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Professional, Career
Stephen Roche (Irish: Stiofán de Róiste) was born November 28, 1959 in Dundrum near Dublin, Ireland and is a retired professional cyclist. more...
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In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming only the second cyclist in history to win the Triple Crown of overall victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia stage races, plus victory in the World Cycling Championship. Roche's rise to prominence in the sport coincided with that of his fellow Irishman and great friend Seán Kelly although the two were never teammates.
Although generally acknowledged as one of the finest cyclists of his generation and admired by purists for his effortless pedalling style, he struggled with a series of chronic knee injuries and never meaningfully contended in the Grand Tours post-1987. Although a Tour de France victor, it is said that Roche never contended at peak fitness in a truly open and competitive race including the prominent riders of his generation. Roche's career palmares included 58 professional wins.
Amateur career
On completion of his apprenticeship as a machinist in a Dublin dairy and following a successful amateur career in Ireland (including a win in the legendary Rás Tailteann in 1979), Roche travelled to France and joined the vaunted Parisian ACBB Boulogne-Billancourt amateur team. According to Roche himself the move to ACBB was largely to aid his preparation for the 1980 Olympic games road race to be held in Moscow. Soon after his arrival Roche won the amateur Paris-Roubaix, escaping with Belgium rider Dirk Demol and sprinting to victory on the track at Roubaix. Famously, during the race Roche was told by his director sportif that if he did not win then "he would be sent home to Ireland that day".
Although he also finished on the podium at the early-season Paris-Eze, a knee injury caused by a poorly fitted shoe plate led to a disappointing ride at the Moscow games. However on his return to France, an amazing spell from August to October saw Roche win an incredible 19 races and led to the offer of a professional contract with the Peugeot professional cycling team for the 1981 season.
Early professional career
In an extraordinary debut season, Roche scored his first professional victory by beating Bernard Hinault in the Tour of Corsica. Less than a month later he won the early season Paris-Nice stage race (despite illness caused by severe cold on the descent from Mont Ventoux) and finished his impressive debut season with further victories in the Tour de Corse, Circuit d'Indre-et-Loire and Etoile des Espoirs races with an impressive second place behind Hinault once again in the Grand Prix des Nations.
In a disappointing 1982 season his best performance was second in the Amstel Gold Race, but his rise to prominence continued in 1983 with victories in the Tour de Romandie, Grand Prix de Wallonnie, Etoile des Espoirs and Paris-Bourges. In the 1983 Tour de France, Roche finished 13th and he finished the 1983 season with a bronze medal in the World Cycling Championship at Alterheim in Zurich.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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