ROCHE'S Tour de France win was my 1992 highlight
by Jim McArdle - Irish Times
Although there have been very good international wins on the amateur scene during 1992 by Conor Henry, Stephen Spratt and David Hourigan, my highlight of the season was Stephen Roche's Tour de France stage win.
I was not at the Tour of Britain for Henry's great triumph or when Hourigan won the Manx International in the Isle of Man. Spratt's most recent success in the tour of Hokkaido in japan was, of course, well out of range but I followed closely his exploits in the Ras where his victory was clouded by the unfair tactits of a few of his "mates" against the Italian race leader.
My straightforward reporting on what occurred that day in Dun Laoghaire led to a defamation of character action so I'll have to leave it at that but Spratt could really have won it on his own without the efforts of the "gang of six".
The national road race championship, won by Ian Chivers, unfortunately clashed with the world pro title event in Benidorm but Philip Collins gets my vote as champion of the year for his great record breaking effort in the 50 TT championship.
La Bourbelle
However, back to the pros. The remarkable Sean Kelly started off the season like he had finished the previous one, by winning the first classic, Milan-San Remo, but Roche's emergence from the swirling mist out on his own at the hilltop finish on the Cote de Charlennes above La Bourboule in the Puy de Dome region to win stage 16 of the Tour on Tuesday, July 21st is my '92 highlight.
Roche had finished second on stage seven in Valkenburg and he was third on the 12th stage at Saint-Gervais so his first win of the year was just reward for persistent attacking.
Leaving Saint-Gervais Roche was up into third place overall but he then suffered two severe hammerings on the big mountain stages to Sestriere in Italy and then to Alpe d'Huez and slipped out of contention in 11th place.
Heart And Legs
However, he bounced back in remarkable style on stage 16 when he said afterwards that the terrain and the weather reminded him of his old training ground in Wicklow. "This may not be the best place to win, with so few people up here in the rain" he remarked, "but it is my most satisfying one since 1987". And he added: "I did it with my heart and my legs".
Roche had to really work hard for his victory in the closing stages of that 212 kilometresthat look nearly six hours. After he launched his successful attack there were countless counter moves with several of the big guns firing but, one by one, they died away and he kept battling on up towards the finish in the cold and wet.
As Roche eventually emerged in glorious isolation and crossed the line with his arms raised wearily in salute the pursuit had been well and truly beaten off - 46 seconds elapsed before Viatcheslav Ekimov took second place with the rest well strung out behind.
Roche had been telling us on the Tour that he was back to near his best form, he would have just needed abit more time to be fully prepared. After he had finished ninth in Paris he told me: "What I did was without a proper preparation and I aim to build on that for next year and then go out on a high note".
It seems very optimistic that Roche, or anybody else, could beat Indurain next year but Roche was very serious about his outlook. On the question of retirement he said after the Tour that he was planning to race into the early of 1994 and then pack up "in a blaze of glory".
Two More Years
Early in October he was quoted as saying that he would finish up at the end of the '93 season and I rang him to find out if there had been a change from his earlierr statement and he said: "You know the way things are said and sometimes used out of context".
I did say in that interview that next season would be my last but there is still the possibility that I would continue on into '94 for the Tour of Spain and then get out. I just do not know exactly yet when the right time will be and I would like to make the right decision and stop at the right time and not drag on".
Roche went on to say that he is concentrating already on preparing for next season. "I will be doing some swimming, jogging and weight training and getting out on the bike as much as possible. I don't want to do too much, just keep ticking over and then I hope to get in some altitude training in Colombia in January and that will be the start of the real preparation for what will be my last Tour de France in July".
Just as Roche provided the highlights of the last decade with his great triple triumphs in '87 that win on July 21st tops my list for '92 and here's hoping he can fulfil his promise of a few more glory days before he diceds to pedal off into the sunset.
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