It’s 1987 and Stephen Roche of Ireland has just done what only Eddy Merckx had done before, and only Tadej Pogacar since; he’s won the men’s pro road race world title after winning the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year. This is how he did it.
Eddy Merckx said the Villach circuit in Austria was for sprinters, but it was raining and a lot more rolling than Eddy must have seen. Roche and the other Irish favourite, Sean Kelly stayed close to the front, but without committing to breakaways.
With one lap to go 70 riders were in contention, with Roche committed to helping Kelly, who he thought had more chance. However, he says; “The group was big, and with sprinters like Guido Bontempi and Erik Vanderaerden, it had to be thinned down. I really pushed hard the last time up the long climb on the circuit, and that caused a split behind with only 12 riders able to follow me.”
Kelly was one of them, so were other big names like Moreno Argentin, Laurent Fignon and Adri van der Poel, plus a lot of good riders capable of winning the world title.
Things stayed like that until two kilometres, when there was a sudden split, with 5 riders going clear while the rest lost 300 metres. Roche was one of the 5, but Kelly was on the wrong side of the split. “I kept looking back expecting Sean to come across to us, but he didn’t,” Roche says. It was time for plan B.
“Of the riders there, Teun Van Vliet and Rolf Golz were better sprinters than me, so I was looking at third at best with them. Sean wasn’t catching us. I could see us getting 4th and 5th if I didn’t attack,” Roche says.
With 450 metres to go Roche shifted gear, put his head down and hauled himself towards the line. He kept it going for 200 metres, looked around and saw a gap. It was just a question of managing it now, constantly checking behind as his strength ebbed on the uphill finish. He had enough left to win; Stephen Roche had achieved cycling’s Triple Crown.
