Stephen Roche - Future Tour Winner
Stephen Roche proved he could win the Tour de France one day with his performance in 1985, and he did it with help from a rider of a different age. Raphael Geminiani directed Roche’s La Redoute team in 1985. A former contender, Geminiani steered Jacques Anquetil to victories in the 1960s, but he was bang up to date with developments.
Roche moved to 3rd overall through the Alps, but although he was ahead of the rest, he lost time to Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault. But then Hinault crashed badly on stage 14 and Roche started closing. He was a danger again.
After riding well to Luz Ardiden on the first stage in the Pyrenees, Roche faced a short 52.5 kilometre road race from Luz St Sauveur to the summit finish on Col d’Aubisque. He hoped to win, so did Raphael Geminiani.
One area of cycling Geminiani knew better than most was time trialling, and he knew the value of skinsuits. He wanted Roche to wear one on the Aubisque. Nobody did road race stages in skinsuits back then. Roche knew he’d be the target of micky taking next day, but Geminiani convinced him the skinsuit would give a marginal gain, being appreciably lighter than shorts and a jersey.
Roche bought into it, he went to the start line with a standard racing jersey over the skinsuit, only getting rid of it just before the start. He also had an answer. when one smirking competitor asked: “Why are you wearing that, this isn’t a time trial?” Roche replied: “Do you want to bet?”
The Col du Soulor, which climbs almost to the top of the Aubisque, is long but not steep and its gradient constant. It’s perfect for a time triallist. Roche attacked from the start, hit his optimum rhythm and stuck with it all the way.
He flew down the short descent to the start of what is technically the Aubsique, but from the side they climbed just a continuation of the Soulor and won the stage by 1 minute 3 seconds from Sean Kelly.
Hinault lost 90 seconds, and Roche moved from 5 to 3 minutes 30 seconds behind him. He wasn’t close enough to win, but his 3rd overall marked him as a future Tour winner. The rest, as they say, is history…
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