18/07/2025
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To celebrate brave Ben Healy’s yellow jersey we’re looking back to another era of Irish grand tour greatness. The time when Irish riders won all three grand tours in a row.
Stephen Roche kicked things off with his 1987 Giro Tour double, which became THE triple when he won the 1987 world title. Then Sean Kelly won the 1988 Vuelta a España, when it started in April. Lots has been written about Stephen’s golden year, so we’ll look at Sean’s Spanish exertions.
The 1988 Vuelta was less mountainous than previous years, which helped Kelly. It also started in the Canary Islands in an effort to shake off the race’s wintry image. Laudelino Cubino led early on, as part of a strong BH team led by Alvaro Pino.
Unfortunately for the BH plan Pino lost time after a crash, but attacked on the first mountain stage to Puerto de Pajares. It was too early and Kelly, with some great pace-making from his French teammate Eric Caritoux, pegged Pino’s advantage.
After that Kelly won the hilly stage 11 to Alto Valdezcaray. It was a remarkable achievement, which put a lot of his rivals on the back foot. The Spanish climbers continued attacking Kelly, but only tentatively.
The flat stage from Lorono to Jaca was enlivened by a British break. Sean Yates went with Deno Davie, and Yates won the stage. It was a brief diversion before the biggest stage of the 1988 race, the Etapa Reina, as it’s called in Spanish.
It finished at another ski resort, Cerler in the Pyrenees. Teammates Cubino and Pino attacked Kelly in turn, but Pino had problems with his bike and they couldn’t make anything stick. Fabio Parra of Colombia won the stage, but with help from Pippa York (see photo), who was in a rival team, Kelly lost little time.
He’d ridden a very calculated race, going for time bonuses from the start, and his climbing had improved considerably. Kelly defended on the last few stages, and was in striking distance of the race lead going into the stage 20 time trial, which he won and took over the leader’s jersey with one day to go. It was enough to win La Vuelta for Ireland.
📸 Presse Sport
🖋 Chris Sidwells
