Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly (born 21 May 1956) is an Irish former cyclist, one of the most successful riders of the 1980s and one of the finest classics riders of all time. Between turning professional in 1977 and retiring in 1994 he won 193 races, including nine Monuments, Paris-Nice a record seven years in a row and the first UCI Road World Cup in 1989. He won one Grand Tour, the 1988 Vuelta a España, and four green jerseys at the Tour de France, plus multiple editions of the Giro di Lombardia, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège; the Tour of Flanders, where he was three times runner-up, is the only Monument he never won. He took world championship bronze in 1982 and 1989, was the first world number one when the FICP rankings began in 1984 and held the spot for five years, winning 33 races in 1984 alone. He grew up on a farm at Curraghduff.