Paul Kimmage's 1985 World Champs: "The sixth best amateur in the whole f*cking world"

Paul Kimmage (left) and Pat McQuaid; the younger man was managed by McQuaid on the day he came sixth in the World Amateur Road Race Championships in 1985 in Italy.

In the week of the World Road Race Championships in Florence, Italy, Graham Healy takes a look back at the superb 6th place result taken by Paul Kimmage riding for Ireland in the 1985 Amateur World Championships; a race now gone from the calendar having been replaced by the U23 category in the mid 1990s.

This year at the World Road Race Championships in Florence, there will be no Irish team taking part in the Under-23 race tomorrow, Friday; with Ireland having failed to gain enough qualification points to be on the start line this time around.

It’s unfortunate as it has been a race where Irish riders have posted some very good performances over the years, including Philip Deignan finishing in 9th place in 2005 and Sam Bennett finishing in 10th place in Holland last year.

Before the U23 category was introduced in the mid 1990s, the sport was split into amateurs and professionals; with a World Championships for each. You could say the amateur race at the Worlds was the predecessor of the U23 race.

But while Philip Deignan has bagged the best result for Ireland in the history of the U23 contest, it was former pro turned journalist Paul Kimmage who took Ireland's best ever result of the modern era in the amateur Worlds, with sixth place in 1985 in Giavera del Montello, Italy.

It was enough to see him being offered a professional contract later that year. The manager for the Irish team that day was Pat McQuaid, and Kimmage was the team’s best hope for a result.

As was the usual scenario with the World Championships, the race became a war of attrition with the 200 starters being gradually whittled down. Kimmage made an attempt to go clear half-way through the race but was reeled back in. Just 29 riders remained in contention coming into the last lap.

Unfortunately, Kimmage suffered a slow puncture and noticed the deflating tyre in the last kilometre. He had to ride on regardless, knowing if he stopped to change his wheel his chances of a result would be gone.

He described the sprint thus in his award-winning autobiography, A Rough Ride:

“The Polish rider Lech Piasecki passed me like a bomb but as the line approached, no one else arrived and I thought: ‘Christ I’m going to get a medal.’ But then a Danish rider, Weltz, passed, then a Belgian, another Dane and an Italian, Maurizio Fondriest. I crossed the line and counted. Six. Sixth in the world. The sixth best amateur in the whole fucking world. I was overjoyed. It was the summit of my career.”

The 24 year-old Polish mechanic Piasecki held on for the win with Johnny Weltz in second and Frank Van de Vijver in third. Brian Holm was fourth with the 1988 World Professional Champion Maurizio Fondriest finishing one place ahead of Kimmage. The only other Irish finisher that day was Stephen Spratt in 57th place, nearly nine minutes behind Kimmage’s group.

The following day, Seán Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley took part in the professional race, with Roche best of the team in 7th place, just three seconds behind the surprise winner, Joop Zoetemelk.

A few months later, Kimmage was offered a contract with the RMO team for the following season where he would join his compatriots in the professional ranks. He was selected for the Tour de France in his debut season, and managed to finish the race.

The race winner, Piasecki would also turn professional the following season with the Italian Del Tongo team and two years later, he would get to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.