Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly brought a glamour to Ireland that few sport stars had done before them. But Roche has said the success of a small number of pros at the time disguised a weak Irish scene, though he believes Irish cycling is in rude health now. Pictured on the start line of the 1992 World Championships in Benidorm.
Tour de France winner and former world champion, Stephen Roche has said the current strength in Irish cycling is not grounded in a small number of exceptional riders like it was when he and Sean Kelly were in their prime.
Roche suggested there was a whole group of young riders coming through to add to the achievements of his son Nicolas along with the other big Irish names such as Dan Martin and Philip Deignan.
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And he also put some of the current strength in depth down to Cycling Ireland.
“It’s a statement in itself that Irish cycling is not just sitting on the shoulders of Nicolas, Deignan and Dan,” he told stickybottle.
“They’re three stars, not just in Ireland but in world cycling. They are world class riders.
Leading Giro di Lombardia in 1981. He was in his first year as a pro, was still only 21 years old but had already won Paris-Nice.
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"But also under them you have a lot of really good guys; (Matt) Brammeier, Sam (Bennett), (Ryan) Mullen, a lot of very good guys.
"These are all world class athletes as well, not just good Irish guys. Irish cycling is in a good situation, having all these riders there.
“Even when I was there with Sean Kelly and Paul Kimmage and Martin Earley and Laurence; we were up there but it was very, very weak underneath.
"I think the federation have their act together now as well and the structure is there.
“The people there have brought the standard of it to another level which is great.”
We’ll have an extended interview later in which Roche talks about why his son Nicolas had to leave Tinkoff-Saxo.
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