Stephen Roche

Stephen Roche (born 28 November 1959) is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. Over a 13-year career, his finest moment came in 1987, when he became just the second of three men ever to win the Triple Crown—the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and the World Road Race Championship—alongside Eddy Merckx and Tadej Pogačar. His rise in the sport happened at the same time as fellow Irishman Sean Kelly. Though considered one of the best cyclists of his era and praised for his smooth pedalling style, Roche was plagued by knee injuries and never again challenged for Grand Tour victories after 1987. He won 58 professional races.

Roche started out as a machinist apprentice in a Dublin dairy. After a successful amateur stint with the Orwell Wheelers club under coach Noel O’Neill of Dundrum—winning the Irish Junior Championship in 1977 and the Rás Tailteann in 1979—he joined the Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt amateur team in Paris to prepare for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Shortly after arriving, he won the amateur Paris–Roubaix by escaping with Dirk Demol and sprinting to victory on the Roubaix track. His directeur sportif had warned him that losing meant being sent back to Ireland that same day. He also placed on the podium at the early-season Paris–Ezy road race and finished 14th overall in the Sealink International stage race, won by Bob Downs. A knee injury from a poorly fitted shoe plate led to a disappointing 45th place in Moscow. Back in France from August to October, however, he won 19 races, earning a contract with the Peugeot professional team for 1981.

Roche’s first professional win came by beating Bernard Hinault in the Tour of Corsica. Less than a month later, he won Paris–Nice—becoming the first, and still only, new professional to do so—despite illness after descending Mont Ventoux. His debut season also brought victories in the Tour de Corse, Circuit d’Indre-et-Loire, and Étoile des Espoirs, plus a second place behind Hinault in the Grand Prix des Nations, for a total of 10 wins. In 1982, his best result was second in the Amstel Gold Race behind Jan Raas. He continued to improve in 1983, winning the Tour de Romandie, Grand Prix de Wallonie, Étoile des Espoirs, and Paris–Bourges. He finished 13th in the 1983 Tour de France and took a bronze medal at the world championships in Zurich.

In 1984, after contractual disputes with Peugeot—settled in a way that forced Roche to wear Peugeot shorts for two years before winning a court case against Vélo Club de Paris Peugeot—he rode for La Redoute. That year, he repeated his Tour de Romandie win, took Nice-Alassio and Subida a Arrate, and placed second in Paris–Nice. He finished 25th in the Tour de France. In 1985, he won the Critérium International and the Route du Sud, came second in Paris–Nice, and third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. At the 1985 Tour de France, he won stage 18 to the Aubisque and finished third overall, 4 minutes 29 seconds behind winner Bernard Hinault.

A crash during a six-day event in Paris-Bercy with UK professional Tony Doyle in 1986 damaged Roche’s right knee, ruining his season with a new team. Aside from a second place in a Giro stage, he had little to show. He finished the 1986 Tour de France in 48th place, 1 hour 32 minutes behind Greg LeMond, describing the race as like “entering a dark tunnel” of pain. The knee injury and resulting back problems recurred throughout his career—for example, in the 1989 Tour he abandoned after banging the problem knee on his handlebars. A series of operations only addressed symptoms of the core injury. Later, non-surgical treatment from Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt in Munich helped somewhat, but the injury needed constant care. By the end of his career, a back problem caused a loss of power in his left leg, preventing him from competing at his best. In retirement, he said he rode the 1993 Tour de France “just for fun,” finishing 13th while riding for Claudio Chiappucci.

Roche’s 1987 season was extraordinary. That spring, he won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, took a third victory in the Tour de Romandie, and placed fourth with a stage win in Paris–Nice. He also finished second in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the closest he came to winning a professional Monument classic, later blaming tactical naiveté and “riding like an amateur.” In the Giro d’Italia, he won three stages—including a team time trial—on his way to overall victory, becoming the first Giro winner from outside mainland Europe. His stage wins were stage 1b, a time trial downhill on the Poggio into San Remo, and stage 22, an individual time trial into St. Vincent. The race is best remembered for the stage from Lido di Jesolo to Sappada, where Roche broke away alone early against team orders. Though caught late, he had the strength to follow the counterattack and take the pink jersey from his teammate Roberto Visentini, who had been leading. His actions earned the hatred of the tifosi. It was said the only teammate Roche could trust not to ride against him was domestique Eddy Schepers, so Roche recruited Panasonic riders and old ACBB teammates Robert Millar and Australian Phil Anderson to protect him with Schepers on the Marmolada climb—a day known as the “Marmolada Massacre.” Roche finished the Giro exhausted.