Sean Kelly has added his image and voice towards promoting the Giro Irish start. But he believes he and Stephen Roche could do more if more effort was being made generally to increase publicity around the race.
Cycling legend, Vuelta winner and former world No 1, Sean Kelly has described as a “scandal” the lack of promotion by Tourism Ireland of the Giro d’Italia coming to Dublin in May.
He said the publicity dividend that comes with such a big race to any city has already been substantially wasted, warning the Republic may never get a big race again as a result.
He said while the tourism authorities in the North, which hosts the bulk of the action, have been more proactive he bemoaned how little publicity there has been about the race’s visit for three stages kicking off with the team time trial on Friday, May 9th.
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He believed with just two months to the race’s visit to Dublin, most people in the city would know nothing about it.
"I think there's an awful lot of the opportunity downstream already," he told the Irish Independent.
“We've heard almost nothing about it. There's so little about it. It's going to be a long time before we get to host a big stage race again in Ireland. I think it's a scandal that Tourism Ireland are not doing something.”
The visit of such a large event should bring a two-fold dividend. Firstly, visitors should flock in great numbers to those places where the action is unfolding, resulting in an increased spend for local businesses, including hotels, in the days leading up to and during the Irish visit.
Secondly, the television images if Ireland broadcast to an estimated audience of 775 million people in 165 countries should represent a major sales pitch for Ireland as a cycling destination and holiday destination.
The Dublin-based company Shade Tree Sport which helped to introduce the race organisers RCS Sport to the Irish interests funding the visit is trying to use the race’s visit here as a platform to resurrect the Tour of Ireland from next year.
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However, according to Kelly, not enough is being done to maximise all of those opportunities, despite cycling currently booming across the country.
"It should be promoted more,” he said the race’s visit here.
“I'm not patting myself on the back, but they should use Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Stephen Roche and myself – the guys of the past. I think there should be more done with those guys, but there's nothing being done.
"If you look at biking in Ireland at the moment and the way it's going, it has just exploded, it's the new golf. Everyone is doing it; from the postman, to the guy on the dole, to the company director, doctor... everybody is into it. It's the moment to do something in Ireland, to promote more cycling.
"It should have been done in the last six months. They've blown the chance already to an extent. Unless they get up off their backsides and do something major in the next couple of weeks or months they've lost a huge opportunity. And if they can't see that, well..."
Following the Giro team time trial on Friday, May 9th, in Belfast a road stage on Saturday takes the riders up the Antrim coast, with that leg starting and finishing in Belfast.
The following morning the race starts from Armagh and moves south to Dublin for a stage finish on Dublin’s Merrion Sq in the south inner city.
The annual Irish Cycling Show is being held in Merrion Square and should lend a lot of atmosphere to the stage finish. A charity cycle in Dublin to coincide with the Giro has also mooted though details of that remain unclear.
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