Roche in the firing line

CYCLING WEEKLY - 2018 GIRO PREVIEW

Cycling Weekly |May 3, 2018 

 

There have been many instances of foreign riders having to ride the gauntlet of the tifosi at the Giro d’Italia, going right back to the inter-war years. What was undoubtedly the most infamous instance, though, occurred in 1987, when Ireland’s Stephen Roche lined up with the Italian Carrera team as co-leader alongside defending champion and crowd favourite Roberto Visentini. 

The pair both held the lead, Visentini seemingly taking a decisive grip on it when he crushed Roche and the rest of the field in a long time trial at San Marino. Yet, two days later, Roche struck back, defying team orders and the unwritten laws of cycling with a solo attack that saw Visentini crumble and the Irishman back in the maglia rosa. Now Roche had a very different enemy to face up to, as his loyal team-mate Eddy Schepers recalls.

“If he hadn’t taken the jersey that day at Sappada, I think they would have sent us home because we hadn’t followed the orders of the team director, Davide Boifava,” says Schepers. “The day after we had to ride over the Marmolada, a very high and very long climb, and we had to ask the two policemen who were on the motorbikes just ahead of the group to ride very close to us and keep the fans away from the riders as best as they could. Because Stephen was in the pink jersey, the fans could pick him out very easily. Stephen rode in between me and Robert Millar all of the way up that climb so that the fans couldn’t get near him. There were all kinds of insults and threats. We were worried that someone would attack him, and there would be chaos.

“At that point it was just the two of us against all of the rest within the Carrera team. Some of the Italian riders said that they would like to help us, but didn’t dare do it because the director was against it and was still supporting Visentini. We were on our own until the end of the race, even after Visentini crashed and pulled out. We didn’t even stay for the post-race celebration. We got in the car and drove through the night straight out of Italy.”