Riding with Peugeot in the early part if his career, Stephen Roche took his first win as a pro in Corsica, the same venue for the year's Tour de France Grand Départ
By Graham Healy
Remarkably, this year’s Grand Départ of the Tour de France will be the first time the race has ever visited Corsica. It is the only region of the country never to have been visited until now.
However, the island is no stranger to professional racing, having been the venue for Criterium International in the past number of years, and also having hosted a number of stages of Paris-Nice back in the ‘60s.
Corsica also once had its own stage race and it was in the 1981 edition of the race where Stephen Roche had his debut win, just a month after turning professional.
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After an impressive amateur career with ACBB, Roche signed for Peugeot.
Following on from a baptism of fire at the Tour of the Mediterranean, Roche travelled to Corsica where he would line up against Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond and Laurent Fignon.
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Phil Anderson won the opening stage 1a, with Roche’s team mate Jacques Bossis taking that afternoon’s stage 1b. However, it was Bernard Hinault who wore the leader’s jersey after these two split stages.
On the following day, Bossis went clear and Roche managed to get across to his team mate. The pair worked well together, and stayed clear for 120 kilometres. Bossis allowed Roche to take the stage for his first ever pro win, whilst the Frenchman took over the lead from Hinault.
Going into the final time-trial, Bossis was more concerned with Hinault in third place than with Roche.
Another Peugeot rider, Michel Laurent won the time-trial on the Col de Téghime but Roche did enough to take over the lead from Bossis. He finished 30 seconds clear of Laurent with Hinault a further eight seconds back.
It was a reflection of how unknown the Dubliner was prior to the race, that officials were to mistake him for Robert Millar’s driver. He was to win Paris-Nice a few weeks afterwards, and this would ensure that he was no longer an unknown in the peloton.
Although tomorrow’s opening stage in Corsica can be expected to finish in a bunch sprint, Sunday and Monday’s stages will offer better opportunities for Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin to take another Irish win on the island.
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