The season it all came together

Cycling: Shane Stokesshares Stephen Roche's memories of that wonderful year when he shook off his injury worries to claim a magnificent hat-trick of major races.

Stephen Roche was regarded as one of the most naturally gifted riders of his time, but also as being prone to injury. Much of his career was blighted by the after-effects of his crash on a velodrome in the Paris Six Day, in November 1985. He was below par for much of the following season, lost most of 1988 through a related knee operation and had intermittent problems with that joint and his back for the rest of his career. But for one full season everything was perfect; 1987 was a dream year, one when the former Premier Dairies fitter from Dundrum was able to deliver on his potential and make cycling history.

Prior to 1987 only Le Cannibal, Eddy Merckx, had won the triple of Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy), Tour de France and World Championships. Roche's stunning form saw him repeat that feat, racing to victory in St Vincent, Paris and Villach. It hasn't been done since since and, with cycling increasingly marked by specialisation, it is uncertain if it will ever be.

Roche was clearly in stunning form that year but each of those three big victories also drew on the mental aspect, with tactics, intelligent racing, risk-taking and stubbornness coming into play.

Roche headed to the Giro d'Italia with a very successful spring behind him. He'd undergone an operation to treat that dodgy knee in the autumn of 1986, recovered steadily and set about putting in a very solid base that winter. When he started racing he quickly found form, winning the Tour of Valencia, placing fourth in Paris-Nice (missing victory because of a puncture), netting second in the Criterium International and Liège-Bastogne-Liège and fourth in Flèche Wallonne. Just before the Giro he rode the Tour of Romandie and won two stages plus the overall classification, proving he was in scorching form before his first big objective.

"The Giro was major," he recalled this week. "It was my first win in a three-week tour and in addition, the conditions in which I won made it special. (Roberto) Visentini wasn't the easiest rider to work with there, especially with him being Italian and the 1986 winner. It was a difficult situation."

Roche started well, winning the time trial down the Poggio, and then took the leader's pink jersey when his Carrera squad won the team time trial.

He defended the maglia rosa for several days but then a bad performance in the San Marino individual time trial, most likely as the result of a big crash on the 10th stage to Termoli, saw him end the day over two-and-a-half minutes behind Visentini.

Two days later the race headed for the summit finish of Sappada; Roche attacked early, refused team orders to return to the bunch and then held off the Carrera squad for many kilometres as they chased to protect Visentini's lead. There was carnage behind, and while Roche was eventually hauled back, the Italian cracked on the final climb. Roche, suffering but defiant, grimly held on to the front runners and edged back into the overall lead.

"From the Giro the standout memories are of the media coverage and the hassle I had with the general public on the roads during the days following the stage into Sappada, where I took the jersey again," he says. "And also of that particular day. When the occasion arose after the first climb I let go of the brakes and made a descent like you only make once in your lifetime. Well, I actually made two, because I made another one like that in the Tour a few weeks later.

"I went crazy on the descent, and at the bottom I was one-and-a-half minutes ahead of Visentini. I joined up with a breakaway group and was riding for many kilometres on flat roads with my whole team riding behind me. I was really angered by the fact that they were chasing. They were great moments, though, looking back, because there was a fight on and the adrenalin was really flowing."

Roche had a torrid time following that stage, the Italian fans baying for blood, spitting at him and throwing punches. His team were on the verge of sending him home and most of the Italian press coverage was highly critical, fuelling the flames.

Looking back, he's proud he stuck it out, cementing victory when he won the final time trial. He became the first ever Irishman to win one of cycling's grand tours.

"Winning the Giro helped me in that I went to the Tour with nothing to lose," he said. "I had won a major tour, I had also won the Tour of Romandie and the Tour of Valencia. I had a great season in the classics. So I had nothing else to prove. I didn't owe anything to Carrera at that point.

"That was important because when breakaways went away in the Tour, I was able to gamble a little bit more than if I had based the whole season around that race."

He trained specifically to do a good prologue. He finished third just to show his rivals the form was still good after the Giro.

Roche gained a little more time over his rivals when Carrera won the team time trial. But the clearest sign of his intentions came with a stage win before the mountains.

On the mountain time trial to the summit of Mont Ventoux he had expected to take yellow, but on the day the Frenchman Jean-François Bernard rode out of his skin and dominated. Mindful of the fact Bernard would be fatigued after digging so deep, Roche and the other contenders managed to isolate him by attacking on the following day's stage to Villard de Lans.

Roche and the Spaniard Pedro Delgado went clear on the final climb, and while the latter took the stage win, the Dubliner took over the yellow jersey. He held it for a day, though, conceding it to Delgado on the following day's climb to Alpe d'Huez.

It looked like the Tour was slipping away from him but the next stage, to La Plagne, would go down as the most dramatic in that Tour - and one of the most dramatic ever.

"That day was crucial," he explained. "I had a go at Delgado from 100 kilometres out. I nearly then lost it all on La Plagne after I was caught, but then came back again on the final few kilometres.

"Earlier on I saw that Delgado was isolated from his team-mates on the climb of the Galibier, so I thought, 'now is the time to try something'. I gave it a go, but unfortunately, Delgado got his team-mates together again after the climb. I ended up doing the Col de la Madeleine on my own and then being caught in a small group just before the foot of La Plagne."

Roche knew he was in trouble, tired after the attack, while Delgado - a better climber - was still fresh: "I knew my only chance was not to go with Delgado when he attacked me on that final climb. The idea was to let him go, give him a bit of space and then give it everything with four or five kilometres remaining and come back to him. He wouldn't be getting time checks so close to the line and so he wouldn't be able to react, he wouldn't think I was coming back to him.

"That proved to be the right decision because he basically kept his pace but I increased mine, and came back to within four seconds of him by the finish line.

"That was essentially the day Delgado lost the Tour."

Roche collapsed after the finish and was given oxygen, but made a strong recovery and rode well on the following day's stage to Morzine. He broke clear after the final climb, made another breakneck descent towards the finish and took time out of Delgado. This ensured he started the penultimate-day time trial close enough to strike, and strike he did; he beat the Spaniard by one minute and one second in the race against the clock, reclaiming the yellow jersey by 40 seconds and thus securing the race.

"Riding onto the Champs-Élysées on the last day in yellow was super. It is the most prestigious avenue in the world and I was winning the biggest race," he recalls.

"But certainly coming home (to Dublin) was an incredible day which will stay with me the rest of my life. The size of the crowds, the attitude of the fans, and also the media - that was something else."

There was even more to come.

The World Championships were being held in Villach, Austria, and he went there with the intention of riding for his friend and compatriot Seán Kelly.

"The race was 260 kilometres long and I was helping Seán right up until six kilometres to go. I had super legs. That day I was so motivated and so strong. When we finally got away I rode the whole of the final three or four laps for Seán, chasing different breaks and that. On the second-last lap myself and Seán got across to the breakaway. I rode across with Seán on my wheel and then went through the break and rode on the front. The attack went on the second-last climb and I rode across to them.

"We got away and Seán missed the split. They weren't coming back in time so I had to do something. I knew that coming into a sprint finish, I was going to be fourth. But I knew also there was a real sort of rivalry between Teun van Vliet and Rolf Golz. If I attacked early, there was a good chance they would look at each other (to chase) because they were both good sprinters and both had a chance of winning.

"That is what happened. I surprised them with three- or four-hundred metres to go. They looked at each other before reacting. Van Vliet didn't want to bring Golz to the line and Golz didn't want to bring van Vliet. So that was my blessing, really."

The rainbow jersey completed the hat-trick of Giro, Tour and Worlds. Twenty years ago, firing on all cylinders, he was on top of the world.

Stephen Roche

Stephen Roche was born on November 28th, 1959, the second-eldest of six children. A 13- year professional career took in several big victories, including three Tours of Romandie, two Critérium Internationals, three Tour de France stage wins and the 1982 Paris Nice.

The clear highlight of his career came in 1987, with victories in cycling's big triple of Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and World Championships, plus several other events.

After his career ended he faced allegations he had used EPO during the 1993 season, six years after his Tour success. Roche strenuously denies this.

He is divorced from his former wife, Lydia, and lives in Paris with his girlfriend.

He has four children, including Nicolas, a third-year professional with the Crédit Agricole team.

Nicolas completed the Giro d'Italia this year and is the national time-trial champion.