Sean Kelly wins the 1986 Milan-Sanremo from Greg Lemond after seven hours in the saddle. Now retired, he has backed the under-pressure 2016 winner Arnaud Démare amid allegations of towing (Photo: Sirotti)
A winner of Milan-Sanremo twice – in 1986 and 1992 - Sean Kelly has said Arnaud Démare was a deserving victor of Saturday’s race.
The Frenchman has been under pressure amid accusations he took a tow back to the lead group after crashing with 30km remaining.
He has strongly denied any wrong doing and no physical evidence, such as photographs or video footage, has emerged to suggest he cheated.
And speaking on a Cycling News podcast, Irish great Kelly said he believed Démare deserved to win.
“I think we were surprised to see him at the back of the peloton going onto the Poggio, we could see he was just in the tail end of that leading group,” said Kelly.
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“And that was a big performance to get back in (after crashing)… if you come into the Cipressa and you’re in the cars you can follow the cars a lot.
“And sometimes if there is not a commissaire around you can maybe get a lot of pacing from your car.
“And I don’t think you can say anything about that because; with the cars on the Cipressa, naturally you are going to stay in the drafting.
As soon as a stunned Démare won Milan-Sanremo on Saturday allegations of towing emerged from the some Italian riders (Photo: Sirotti)
“Were there sticky bottles or anything like that? That’s another question. The one thing that some of the riders said ‘he went by us at twice the speed’…
“But to go by on the Cipressa at twice the speed, some of the riders rode to the bottom of the Cipressa giving it 100 per cent and then they just pulled over so they were going 10k an hour… their day’s work was over.
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“So it would not be difficult for Démare to pass twice or three times the speed if he was in the cars and trying to get back in.”
Asked if Démare was a worthy winner, Kelly said: “Yes. I think considering Arnaud Démare was in that crash and got back on his bike very quickly… He didn’t start using (the crash) as an excuse, which sometimes is the case.
“The surprising thing was that when they were going onto the Poggio he was there in the back of the peloton and what happened in between, we have no proof.
“But riding up the Poggio if you’re in the cavalcade of cars behind the main group; it’s normal you will ride behind the cars, what can you do?
“And if that’s all that happened, if he wasn’t taking a tow from the cars, I don’t think questions should be asked.”
However, while he believed Démare’s win was credible based on the facts available, Kelly did not feel the race was entertaining overall.
“It wasn’t a hugely exciting race, I’m not sure if the wind conditions on some of the climbs were maybe unfavourable,” he said of possible headwinds that make it more difficult to split up a group on a short climb.
“The peloton seemed to stay together a lot and the final 50-60km; a number of crashes which is quite normal for Milan-Sanremo.
“When you have good conditions of course everyone is getting closer to the final, feeling better; so more riders to fight to stay at the front and that equals crashes and that’s what we see on Saturday.
“The disappointing thing was that it wasn’t really an exciting race on the Cipressa or the Poggio.
“The Poggio; you know they climbed it at a strong pace. Maybe when you’ve a team on the front setting a really strong pace it’s difficult to attack.
“Possibly there was a little bit of a headwind and for that reason it wasn’t really exciting on that final climb of the Poggio.”
Kelly said while Astana “talked out” making the Poggio difficult they failed to do so but he felt Team Sky had ridden well.
In general terms, he believed with more riders at a higher standard and being in better condition in the sport, a bigger group would be in contention in the race and it would be hard for an escape to pull clear on the Poggio.
“Given good weather conditions, not very much wind, everybody arriving in really good shape to the Poggio and then it goes so fast; it’s almost impossible to attack.”
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