Sports Poets Society

How Roche and Millar worked at securing first and second places Procycling, June 2012 I wasn’t supposed to be at the ’87 Giro d’Italia at all but Panasonic team boss Peter Post surprised me barely ten days before the start. I was first reserve, apparently, but I don’t remember him saying who I replaced or why. It was probably Post’s idea of punishment for me arguing about whether I had to eat my crème caramel at the recent GP Zurich when he’d said I needed to. Or possibly for letting former Panasonic rider Beat Breu win a mountain stage at the Tour de Romandie. Post hadn’t talked to me for three days after thatscandal. So, reluctantly, I found myself at the start of the Giro to support Phil Anderson on the climbs. Post made it quite clear who was leading the team and who was there to help. I didn’t have any problems with that as it wasn’t a race I had planned for. Skimming through the road book the night before the first stage was a bit of a shock as it looked really h...

The only rider besides Eddy Merckx to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and World Championships in the same season, Ireland’s Stephen Roche had an easy smile and smooth pedalling style that hid an iron will Writer: Peter Cossins Procycling, June 2012 For fans of a certain age, Stephen Roche embodies the first golden age of English-speaking readers. Together with the likes of compatriot Sean Kelly, Britain’s Robert Millar, Australia’s Phil Anderson and the USA’s Greg LeMond, Roche helped to change the complexion of the sport both inside their native countries and within the wider cycling world. All of these riders stand out in their own particular way, Roche primarily making his mark thanks to an astonishing string of performances during the 1987 season. He started it right off the competitive radar as the result of a heavy fall onto his right knee during the Paris Six-Day in November 1985. During the subsequent season, he made so little impact with his new Carrera tea...

"Captain Fantastic" ha colpito ancora. Ancora lui, Vincent Kompany. E quando più conta. Come nel 2012, all'ultima col West Ham. Come nel 2014 alla terzultima nel derby con lo United. Ma mai come stavolta: un destro - su azione - dai trenta metri. Forse trentadue. Tanti quanti i sorpassi in testa - in questa pazza, straordinaria Premier League - tra il suo Man City e il Liverpool . A una giornata dalla fine, il super gol da tre punti col Leicester potrebbe valere il titolo. Agli Sky Blues basterà andare a vincere con un Brighton già salvo (ma occhio perché ha appena impattato con l'Arsenal); e in quel caso renderebbe inutile l'eventuale vittoria del Liverpool sui Wolves, settimi e già senza obiettivi. Chissà che sofferenza, in tv, per i reds, finito con l'allenamento pre- Barça . Testa al campionato, gambe e cuore ancora in Champions - almeno per altre ventiquattrore. L'ingeneroso 3-0 del Camp Nou rende proibitiva la rimonta di Anfield. Ma se c...

Per tifosi e media è - e resterà - "FC Hollywood", per il debordante, atavico ego delle sue mille superstar. Ma senza più "Rib & Rob" nel cast, la sceneggiatura - per quanto originale - non sarà più come prima. Piaccia o no - e in Baviera è piaciuta eccome - al Fußball-Club Bayern, si chiude un'era: quella della "Robbéry". Arjen Robben & Franck Ribéry. La strana coppia che per un decennio ha saccheggiato l'argenteria domestica, europea e mondiale (tra cui l'Oscar per Das Triple  2013). Sulle loro rispettive scorribande sulle fasce, il Bayern moderno è tornato la superpotenza che era quasi sempre stato.   Ribéry c'era arrivato controvoglia, dall'amato Marsiglia per 25 milioni, nel 2007. Lui, "Scarface", La Canebière l'avrebbe lasciata solo per il Paseo de la Castellana, sponda merengue. E proprio da lì, due anni dopo, nel 2009, illustre scarto da 24 milioni del Real Madrid, sarebbe arrivato il suo gemel...

https://www.amazon.com/Sporting-Legends-Ireland-Fennell-2010-09-02/dp/B01K91UA54/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=%22Sporting+Legends+of+Ireland%22&qid=1557056237&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull https://www.facebook.com/Wistorical/photos/a.501750006599065/446075035499896/?type=1&theater Merville Dairy, Finglas, County Dublin, Ireland 7 Lennox Street, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland Champs-Élysées, Paris, France Roche Marina Hotel, Antibes, Cote d'Azur, France It was way past midnight and Stephen Roche was still lying on his back, covered in grease and milk, trying to find the damned leak . Such, he philosophised, is the lot of a maintenance fitter. It was a gener al breakdown at the Merville Dairy in Finglas, Co. Dublin, where he worked. It took until 3am for someone to work it out. As the dairy creaked to life again and the employees began to file out, Stephen’s boss, Ramor Craigie approached . ‘Ahm, will we see you at 9am, Stephen?’ he asked, a little he...

http://www.thebikecomesfirst.com/the-six-day-race-stephen-roche-and-tony-doyle-lost-to-a-home-town-decision/ By Graham Healy - The Bike Comes First Nov 27, 2015 In November 1985, Stephen Roche crashed in the Paris Six-Day damaging his right knee and he would suffer from the injury for the rest of his career.  However, he did return to the track and came very close to a victory in one of the prestigious six-days when he finished second with Tony Doyle in the 1991 Grenoble Six-Day . However, it was felt by many that Doyle and Roche should have been declared the victors . It was a star-studded line-up that year. Amongst the big names from the road were Thierry Marie, Claudio Chiappucci, Laurent Fignon who was paired with Laurent Biondi and Thierry Marie. Roche’s partner Tony Doyle was an excellent six-day racer who had won numerous events including the Six Days of Munich, Ghent, Berlin and Copenhagen. He had also won in Grenoble before, back in 1986 with Fr...

https://www.podiumcafe.com/book-corner/2017/11/3/16602968/the-ascent-sean-kelly-stephen-roche-by-barry-ryan The story of Irish cycling's golden years, from the rise of the Nouvelle Éire to the fall of Pat McQuaid By Feargal McKay ,  @fmk_RoI PODIUM CAFE, Nov 3, 2017 They were of a different kind, The names that stilled your childish play ~ Yeats The year is 1987, the place Wexford town, in the south east of Ireland. It's the last Thursday of August, the golden hour of summer, the holidays drawing to a close. Tonight, though, Wexford is happy, tonight Wexford is celebrating. Tonight, the circus is visiting: Pat McQuaid has brought his Kellogg's-sponsored city centre critérium series to the fading harbour town. And the stars of the show are the four Irish riders racing on the continent: Martin Earley and Paul Kimmage , the hard working heroes pulling for others; Sean Kelly , whose palmarès includes victories in Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix , L...

https://www.podiumcafe.com/2017/11/3/16602882/interview-stephen-roche Ireland’s Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Champion discusses his autobiography, ‘Born to Ride’ By Feargal McKay ,  @fmk_RoI ,  PODIUM CAFE, Jun 22, 2012 It’s a sunny Monday morning in Dublin and I’m sitting in the foyer of Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge . Next door is the RDS, where Lance Armstrong held his International Cancer Conference back in 2009. I’m here this morning to interview one of the men who preceded Armstrong on the Tour de France’s roll of honour: Stephen Roche. The Dubliner is back home to plug his new autobiography, Born to Ride (Yellow Jersey Press), and I’ve been squeezed in for a twenty-minute interview in between TV and radio appearances. The key to a good interview, I’ve always been told, is preparation. Know who you’re interviewing, know what you want to talk to them about and, biff bang bosh, half the job is done. I’ve spent the weekend reading Bor...