'The Rás' Book Feature

EARLY GLORY ON THE ROADS OF IRELAND:

Stephen Roche won many races in his thirteen year pro career, including the Tour de France, Tour of Italy and World Championships in 1987. For many the first glimpse of his future brilliance was seen on the roads of the 1979 Rás in Ireland. This extract from Tom Daly’s excellent new book, The Rás – The Story of Ireland’s Unique Bike Race, tells the story of that victory, plus the many other champions, characters, events and stories that play a part in the fascinating history of the event now known as the FBD Milk Rás.

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(Extract reproduced courtesy of Tom Daly and The Collins Press.)

1979 was a watershed year in Irish cycling with riders from the three cycling bodies able to compete together. This followed the setting up of the Irish Cycling Tripartite Committee in 1978 - ­the first formal structure to facilitate the unification process that had been in train since 1972. Under this arrangement, the three cycling organisations still existed as independent bodies and ran their own events, but all members could compete in races organised by the others. It was a huge breakthrough, an emotional time for some, and the 1979 Rás was a landmark event as it brought together many of the top riders and senior officials in Irish cycling for the first time in decades. While open to all, the Rás was run by the NCA under the new arrangement and this was to continue until the unification process was progressed further in 1987 when the three bodies amalgamated to become the Federation of Irish Cyclists (FIC).

Each of the three organisations had its own team in the 1979 event. The NCA team - under the name ‘Ireland’­ - was comprised of Séamus Kennedy, Paddy Flanagan, Denis Devin and Pat McHugh. The ICF team included Tony Lally, John Shortt, Oliver McQuaid, Alan McCormack and Stephen Roche. The Northern Ireland Cycling Federation sent two teams - its A team consisted of Billy Kerr, Brian Stevenson, Pat McGarrigle, Aidan McKeown and Pat Shearer.

The unification process also helped to boost funding from the Department of Health and it had been marketed as the ‘Health Race’ from the previous year. While still depending on its volunteer base, this brought a very professional marketing element to the race and its organisation benefited accordingly. For the first time, there was over 100 riders in the event.

In spite of the new and exciting developments, the event got off to a rather ignominious start. The first stage from Dublin to Longford was 40 minutes late in setting off and there was confusion about results at the finish. Worse was to follow at the evening time trial when the results were found to be unreliable. After much confusion, it was announced that the results were scrapped and the stage did not count. Officials explained that gaps in the starting order caused by riders who had entered but not started had not been allowed for. The débâcle understandably caused much annoyance to riders.

Aside from this difficulty, and it being the first ‘unity’ Rás, the 1979 event is best remembered for the performance of the nineteen-year-old Stephen Roche. He was not hotly tipped prior to the event ­- all the ICF riders were considered potential winners, while Billy Kerr from the NICF team was probably favourite - ­ but Roche’s performance, in terms of both physical and mental strength for one so young, left a lasting impression on those who witnessed the front of the race for its duration.

His main opposition eventually came from within his own team -­ something the manager had obvious difficulty in controlling. Alan McCormack considered himself to be the established leader and felt that Roche was challenging him. Roche went into yellow on the fourth stage, to Caherciveen, but two days later, on the road to Carrick-on-Suir, he had to do hard riding at the front of the bunch to stay in touch with team-mates, Oliver McQuaid and Alan McCormack, who had gone away with a French rider. McCormack had another go on the second-last day, to Navan, but Roche dismissively nullified the threat with a devastating surge out of the bunch, across to McCormack.

One of the biggest sensations of the Rás was Roche’s defeat of Billy Kerr in the 16-mile (26km) time trial on the morning of the final day. Such was Kerr's time trialling reputation, pre-Rás predictions had anticipated he might win the race on this stage. Roche, however, beat him by 11 seconds and did so with apparent ease, cheerfully waving to the crowd on the run-in and even finding time for a few words for the veteran reporter, Jim McArdle, as he passed by car. Indeed, McArdle’s final headline of the event summed it up: ‘Roche made it all look so incredibly easy’, and he went on to state that Roche ‘was the most impressive winner of any of the big stage races I have seen.’

There was a great wave of enthusiasm amongst the riders for the joint participation in the 1979 Rás - ‘It was a breath of fresh air’ - and there is little doubt that this enthusiasm was important in sustaining what was still a fragile unification process. To the younger riders especially, less aware as they were of ideological differences, it seemed to make utter sense that all should be competing together. Roche reflected this when he said that ‘the main question was why this hadn’t happened before - it was a magnificent event’.

Roche, of course, was heading for greater things. But his Rás victory was an important stepping-stone on that journey. His winning of the event, at a critical time in his development as a person and as a rider, was an important element in raising his expectations and setting his sights on the continental cycling scene. Eight year later, in the glorious year of 1987, he became assured of cycling immortality by becoming the only rider to emulate Eddy Merckx’s feat of victory in the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Championship in one year. Given such eminent world stature, it would be understandable if the memory and significance of the teenage win of a remote, amateur bike race in Ireland had slipped into the deeper recesses of his memory. This was not the case. When Merckx first met Roche after his triple win in 1987, Merckx congratulated him, saying: ‘Congratulations Stephen, we are equal now.' Roche, in his typically mischievous way quipped: ‘No, we’re not Eddie - ­you’ve never won the Rás.’

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The Rás – The Story of Ireland’s Unique Bike Race is available in major bookstores, some cycling shops and direct from the publishers at www.collinspress.com