Stephen Roche takes a solo win in the 1985 Nissan Classic; he would take two stages in the race that year with compatriot Sean Kelly claiming overall victory.
By Brian Canty
Stephen Roche may have never won the Nissan Classic but he still looks back on the race with treasured memories.
Exactly 30 years ago this week, the race rolled out from Trinity College in Dublin for the first ever edition.
And though he hadn’t yet become the event it would very quickly grow in to, Roche still recalls the enormous support he received throughout the week that first year.
“I remember coming into the race and I was wondering what kind of reception it’d get," he told stickybottle.
“Trinity is great with the history attached to it but I never could have imagined the crowd that would be there!
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“That was my first experience of the level of professionalism and organisation that races in Ireland had at that point.
“I left Ireland in 1980 to race abroad and it wasn’t a cycling friendly place but when I came back the level was incredible and it had completely changed,” he said.
Nowhere was that more evident than the Nissan, though the Kellogg’s crit series in Dublin and Cork did help raise his and the sport’s profile among the Irish public, in the days even before the Jack Charlton era in soccer.
Sean Kelly leads the 1987 edition, tracked by Malcolm Elliott of ANC Halfords and Stephen Roche in the rainbow jersey of world champion (Photo: Joe Cashin)
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“I loved riding at home and the motivation was always high because I rarely came home,” he said.
“Racing around the country on open roads and the crowds coming out, the schools putting banners together, wishing us luck; only the Tour de France rivalled it I think.
“We had some fantastic teams on the race and unfortunately for me it was never hard enough for me to win.
“When I got away it was never hard enough and I was always brought back.
“The only time-trial in the race was made for Kelly and he won that; if it had been in Dundrum it might have been a different story!
“Aside from the racing though, the whole atmosphere was unrivalled.
“There were big nights in the hotels, teams were all together and they’d congregate in the foyer at night for Irish music.
“I’ve some amazing memories, like Laurent Fignon’s soigneur playing the piano and people singing and dancing.
“We had fabulous evenings, there was nothing nasty or rough about it. It was a chance to see people and catch up.”
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