Stephen Roche

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Roche began his amateur career with the Orwell Wheelers club in Dublin, winning the Irish Junior Championship in 1977 and the Rás Tailteann in 1979. He then joined the Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt amateur team in Paris to prepare for the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow. Soon after his arrival he won the amateur Paris–Roubaix, escaping with Dirk Demol and sprinting to victory on the track at Roubaix. A knee injury caused by a poorly fitted shoe plate led to a disappointing 45th place in Moscow, but on return to France he won 19 races from August to October, leading to a contract with the Peugeot professional cycling team for 1981. Roche scored his first professional victory by beating Bernard Hinault in the Tour of Corsica. Less than a month later he won Paris–Nice, becoming the first and still the only new pro to win that race. His debut season yielded 10 victories. In 1983 he won the Tour de Romandie and finished 13th in the Tour de France, with a bronze medal in the world cycling championship. In 1985 he won a stage of the Tour de France and finished 3rd overall. A crash at a six-day event in 1986 damaged his right knee, destroying his season and leading to chronic knee and back problems that plagued the rest of his career. In 1987, Roche achieved the Triple Crown. He won the Giro d'Italia with three stage wins, including a controversial stage where he broke away from his own teammate and race leader Roberto Visentini. He then won the Tour de France by 40 seconds in the final time trial, becoming only the fifth cyclist to win both in the same year. Later that year he won the World road race championship in Villach, Austria, attacking 500 meters from the finish. He was given the freedom of Dublin in late September 1987.

Reader's Guide

Stephen Roche's significance lies in his 1987 Triple Crown, a feat achieved only by Eddy Merckx and Tadej Pogačar among male cyclists. His victory in the Giro d'Italia made him the first winner from outside mainland Europe. His Tour de France win, by a margin of 40 seconds, was at the time the second-narrowest in history. Roche's career was marked by a distinctive pedalling style and early success, but also by chronic knee and back injuries stemming from a 1986 crash that prevented him from contending in Grand Tours after 1987. He remains the only Irishman to win the Tour de France. His legacy includes being the first new professional to win Paris–Nice, and his 58 career wins place him among the finest cyclists of his generation. The controversy of his Giro stage against teammate Visentini and his reliance on borrowed riders during the Marmolada climb highlight the complex dynamics of professional cycling.

Did You Know?

• Roche is the only Irishman to win the Tour de France.
• He became the first Giro d'Italia winner from outside mainland Europe in 1987.
• His Tour de France victory margin of 40 seconds was the second-narrowest at the time.
• Roche won the amateur Paris–Roubaix soon after arriving in France, and was told he would be sent home if he did not win.
• After collapsing on the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour, when asked if he was okay, he replied 'Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite' ('yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away').