Sean Kelly's Vuelta

takethehighroad

Can anyone tell me how Sean Kelly won his Vuelta in '88, given his detest for mountains. I know he won the points jersey as well, so was it a kind of Freddy Maertens job or some other way?

Any information will be welcome, as I'm showing my age here (I wasn't born until 1988) and I'm a big fan of Mister Kelly's.

LangerDan

Kelly wasn't a bad climber, despite his reputation as a sprinter - he has won mountain stages on stage races. His big problem was mainly the heat - the mid July temps in France were frequently his undoing. When Sean won the Vuelta, it was at the other end of the season (April) and cooler. He also suffered a lot with the changes in pace that used to be applied by "pure" climbers but if he could set his own pace, he'd climb quite quickly.

afx237vi

Yeah, people refer to him as a sprinter, but that's a bit of a disservice really. He finished in the top 10 of the Tour on 3 occasions... he was 4th in 1985!

andyp

What LangerDan said. You don't win races like Paris-Nice, the Tour of Lombardy or the Vuelta without being able to climb.

As Greg Lemond put it;

"On his best form there is nothing you can do against Kelly: he climbs better than the best climbers and sprints better than the best sprinters"

andyp

We should add that Kelly almost won the Vuelta in 1987 but had to retire due to a saddle sore (the size of an egg by all accounts) two days before the finish whilst in yellow.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I used to watch for Kelly on the C4 TdF highlights all the time - 30 minute programme probably 20 minutes of racing condensed from 3hrs and I'd be on the edge of the sofa looking out for Kelly!

victorponf

Kelly climbed very well, no doubt, however Vuelta´s mountains stages in those years were jokes

pat1cp

He held the record for the time trial up Col D'eze (Paris Nice) for a long time too.

andyp

victorponf wrote:

Kelly climbed very well, no doubt, however Vuelta´s mountains stages in those years were jokes

Really? Lucho Herrera won in 1987, after Kelly retired, so it must have been pretty tough for a climber like him to win. I always thought the Vuelta was mountainous as it favoured the Spanish riders. Did the organisers meddle with the route in the 1980s to favour certain riders like the Giro organisers did to ensure Saronni or Moser won?

Kléber

He was also in contention to win the Tour in, I think 1986, but had to quit after breaking his arm or collarbone in a crash.

Ramanujan

A lot of riders used to claim that the vuleta, in the early 80's , was tougher than the tour .

campagchris

Sean was also 3rd in the vuelta behind Pino and a certain Mr Millar in 86 he often had 1 bad day in tours hence not winning them.
Andyp was it not 3 days before the finish that Sean pulled out of the vuelta,it was his worst year in cycling according to him as he crashed in the tour the same year.
Sean also won the tour de suisse twice,Volta catalunya twice,and Pais Vasco 3 times not major tours but with some big clmbs in them.
Sean Kelly cycling legend.My hero

victorponf

Kelly was a legend, no doubt, but in 1998 the climbs were so light.

H.C. and 1ª Category in that year:
1988
Erjo 1ª
Cobertoria 1ª
El Escudo 1ª
Valdezcaray (T.T) 1ª
Cotefablo 1ª
Pajares (Finish) H.C.
Cerler (Finish) 1ª
Cantó 1ª
El Pico 1ª

OllyBianchi

It's also worth noting that he was riding for KAS at the time who were a Spanish team, for whom the Vuelta was the highlight of their year, so he had a team of flying domestiques - it was the classics he won without team support at that time, not the stage races.

He was also a great TTer as well - unbeatable on his day which helped in stage races.

I don't know if it happened the year he won, but with the spring date the Vuelta usually seemed to lose at least one mountain stage to snow each year, so a hard route could become easier...

takethehighroad

Wow, thanks for that. An already glowing opinion of him just got even better. I never knew about his TdF exploits, although I did about him winning Paris-Nice all those times.

He's majorly a legend, certaintly.

timoid.

Kléber wrote:

He was also in contention to win the Tour in, I think 1986, but had to quit after breaking his arm or collarbone in a crash.

That was 87. He crashed out in a pile up in one of the early stages, breaking his collarbone.

flattythehurdler

Sean kelly is THE ULTIMATE.
We call our cycles in the peaks in crappy sleet and wind when you're feeling awful and just want to go home "Sean Kelly rides", and reckon they are character building.

emadden

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

He's majorly a legend, certaintly.

I think... but I cant be sure.... I just heard Kelly list off all the riders in todays main break, and then two seconds after he finished, he suddenly said "certainly" .... maybe he's reading these posts :P :P :P :P

Gazzetta67

the guy who said the mountains in the 88 vuelta were not real mountains is talking out of his A%$£. granted kelly was not a Van Inpe or Herrera. but he could hang in there cos he was one tough B*&%$*d to get rid of. always remember the footage that year of Robert Millar pacing Kelly up one of the climbs even though he was not in contention for the overall. knowing millar he would have wanted to stick it right up the Spanish since they ganged up against him in the 85 Vuelta.. one of the best compliments i heard of Kelly was when Robert Millar writing his column in Cycle Sport said - Your out there in the Pouring rain (that was the mild version ) for 3 hours tired,cold and fed up, but you know Sean will be out for 4 hours with no gloves......Kelly is a True Legend .

ms_tree

Dave Harmon said something about a brilliant descent - was at Milan-San Remo? Can anyone tell me when it was? Is it poss to still get the dvd?
I never saw him race but I enjoy his comments because he is so knowledgeable - now I know why! - and can predict mostly what is happening and why.
He said something today about what was happening but Harmon said something else then later said exactly the same thing as if he hadn't been listening to Sean!
Incidentally Amazon sent me an e-mail (you know how they do if you've bought stuff in a similar vein!) about an autobiog/biog of Sean. Something about 'Holy water.'
Something for the Christmas list, perhaps?

Tom Butcher

Pretty sure you can get it on the Sean Kelly story DVD/video and it's on Youtube too (I think) - assuming that's the one where he attacks on the descent and catches Argentin (??) .

LangerDan

Here you go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI

There are two biographies of Kelly, both by David Walsh, both out of print. The first is called, funnily enough "Kelly" and was written in the mid 80's. The second is a photo-biog called "A man for all seasons" co-written with Kelly.

"Blood is Thicker than Holy Water" is by a completely different Sean Kelly!

OllyBianchi

That's the only time I can ever remember seeing Kelly race in a helmet of any sort, let alone a hardshell. He'd clearly decided that a nutcase descent was his best chance of a win and had planned that move all day.

emadden

OllyBianchi wrote:

That's the only time I can ever remember seeing Kelly race in a helmet of any sort, let alone a hardshell. He'd clearly decided that a nutcase descent was his best chance of a win and had planned that move all day.

Here is the pic of Kelly winning on that great day...

Must also go done as one of the best victory salutes of all time
http://grahamwatson.com/dublin/kelly/image18.html

shockedsoshocked

LangerDan wrote:

Here you go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI

There are two biographies of Kelly, both by David Walsh, both out of print. The first is called, funnily enough "Kelly" and was written in the mid 80's. The second is a photo-biog called "A man for all seasons" co-written with Kelly.

"Blood is Thicker than Holy Water" is by a completely different Sean Kelly!

That has to be the best finish of any race i've ever seen.

moray_gub

LangerDan wrote:

Here you go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI

There are two biographies of Kelly, both by David Walsh, both out of print. The first is called, funnily enough "Kelly" and was written in the mid 80's. The second is a photo-biog called "A man for all seasons" co-written with Kelly.

"Blood is Thicker than Holy Water" is by a completely different Sean Kelly!

Ahh the good old days when Duffers was actually a decent commentator.

cheers
MG

Anna Robic

8 minutes highlights video of Kelly's 1988 Vuelta:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wrcG8BWUQ

As others have said Kelly was a very strong climber, it just wasn't his favourite discipline. He would win the Green Jersey back in the day before the points system was weighted in favour of the sprinters. Mountain stages and time trials had equal points as flat stages unlike now. Kelly could finish in the top 10 on EVERY stage.

victorponf

From www.lavuelta.com:

1988
The Irish rider Sean Kelly, was the outstanding winner in this edition of Vuelta a Epaña . He began his career as a sprinter but as years went by, he improved his technic in the rest of the fields until he became a rider able to cover the mountainous stages together with the best specialist in this kind of stages and who kept an excellent performance in time trial.

Before the beginning of this Vuelta a España, many people criticized the very few difficulties the riders were going to find in the mountainous stages, something which helped Kelly and Dietzen, at the expense of the Spanish riders who were at their peak in those years such as Pino and Cubino, both brilliant climbers.

During the first days, pino wasted a precious time because of the strung-out peloton, so he was forced to attempt a breakaway in the first day at the mountain (León - Brañilín); Kelly spent all his energies and was bridged up in the last kilometres by Pino´s team members, Fuerte and Cubino.

Unlike Pino, who was able to achieve the triumph in the mountainous time trial, Kelly failed again.

However, Kelly had not still gone to pieces, far from it. In the stage of Cerler, the leader Cubino, had a bad day and Pino decided to help him, meanwhile Anselmo Fuerte and Parra were ahead of them. Kelly was fourth in this stage thanks to the collapse of both Cubino and Pino. The Irish rider rounded off in the last time trial stage.

micron

It's not necessarily mountains or mountain top finishes that make stages or stage races difficult though, is it? There can be all kinds of factors making demands on riders and making a race tough. And the Vuelta has often made GT winners of great all rounders like Kelly - Jalabert won it and took all the jerseys in his wonder year 1995.

ms_tree

LangerDan wrote:

Here you go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI

There are two biographies of Kelly, both by David Walsh, both out of print. The first is called, funnily enough "Kelly" and was written in the mid 80's. The second is a photo-biog called "A man for all seasons" co-written with Kelly.

"Blood is Thicker than Holy Water" is by a completely different Sean Kelly!

So it is! I should have looked at it properly! :oops: Thanks for the info on the books I've reserved them at the library. (Your library - use it or lose it!)

Patrick1.0

emadden wrote:

OllyBianchi wrote:

That's the only time I can ever remember seeing Kelly race in a helmet of any sort, let alone a hardshell. He'd clearly decided that a nutcase descent was his best chance of a win and had planned that move all day.

Here is the pic of Kelly winning on that great day...

Must also go done as one of the best victory salutes of all time
http://grahamwatson.com/dublin/kelly/image18.html

He looks like Jeremy Clarkson in that!