Second time around – Kelly was 35-years-old and past his best in 1992 but he was still too good for the best in the world and took the chances he needed to land his last really big win.
By Graham Healy
This weekend sees the first monument of the season being contested, when riders line up for the start of Milan-San Remo tomorrow, Sunday.
La Primavera was first run in 1907, and has been won by some of the greats of the sport, including Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet and Eddy Merckx. Also amongst the names on this illustrious list is Seán Kelly, who tasted victory twice.
It took Kelly a number of seasons to take his first classic win in the Tour of Lombardy in 1983. But when he did eventually win, the rest of the peloton found it difficult to stop him. He enjoyed further success in the following seasons at Lombardy, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
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His 1986 season started off as well as the previous season had finished. He was dominant at Paris-Nice, never finishing outside of the top three on any of the stages, to take his fifth consecutive win. And he took to the start line of Milan–San Remo as favourite.
A dangerous break containing Steve Bauer and Marc Madiot, amongst others, which had gone clear earlier in the race, still had a gap as they descended the Cipressa and headed towards the final climb of the race.
However, they were caught at the bottom of the Poggio. The little-known Italian, Mario Beccia then counter attacked with Greg Lemond on his wheel.
They were soon joined by Kelly who went to the front of the group to force the pace. Kelly led down much of the descent, which helped to ensure that they stayed clear.
Beccia led the trio through the final kilometre, with both Kelly and Lemond reluctant to come through. The Italian was forced to lead out the sprint, and Kelly easily overtook him to win by a number of bike lengths from Lemond. Kelly would go on to take his second victory in Paris-Roubaix a few weeks later.
Victory eluded the Carrick-on-Suir man at San Remo for the next few seasons, and it seemed that he might not win the race again, as he entered the twilight of his career. However, his ’92 season started off well with an early victory, and this augured well for his spring classics campaign.
He showed good form in Tirreno-Adriatico in the week preceding La Primavera, but decided not show his cards to other favourites and didn’t chase any stage victories. The clear favourite for Milan-San Remo was the Italian, Moreno Argentin.
Argentin had won three stages at Tirreno-Adriatico, where overall victory had gone to his teammate, Rolf Sorensen. Coming towards the Poggio, Argentin’s Ariostea team set a ferocious pace.
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At the foot of the climb, the first attack was by Frenchman, Eric Boyer, but was soon brought back by Ariostea. Argentin then counterattacked, and only the Belgian, Jim van de Laer was able to stay with him, albeit briefly.
The Italian extended his lead, and going over the top of the Poggio, he was ahead of the chasers by fifteen seconds, which would normally be enough to ensure victory.
Maurizio Fondriest initially led the chasers down the descent, but was not making any inroads on his compatriot.
Kelly then decided to go to the front of the group himself. The rest of Kelly’s group struggled to stay on his wheel through each hairpin, and the gap to Argentin started to come down.
However, time was running out and the descent was nearly over. It looked like Argentin might have enough of a gap to hang on. With just one kilometre remaining, the Irishman eventually made it across. I spoke to Kelly about this race recently, and he still vividly remembers the moment.
“Argentin turned around and asked me to come through, but I just told him I couldn’t, that I was f***ed,” Kelly recalled.
“I pulled a bit of a face aswell, to let on I was in real pain.”
Argentin continued to pull at the front, as the chasers bore down on them. Argentin turned around again to plead with the Irishman to do a turn, but once again, Kelly indicated that he was in too much pain to do any work.
“I screwed up my face again, but this time I also sat a bit to the side to make sure he could see the group coming up behind this and panic him.”
The trick seemed to work, as Argentin continued to do all the work. The Italian led out, and as he did six years previously, Kelly easily won the sprint. I asked Kelly what Argentin’s reaction was afterwards, and he understatedly said that, “he wasn’t very happy.”
Whereas his victory in 1986 had been won through brute strength, his second victory in La Primavera was through skill and nerve. It was to be the last of his monument wins.
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