What got you hooked?

sonny73
sonny73 Posts: 2,203
edited January 2011 in Pro race
Sorry if this has been asked before, but who, when, what got you in to watching pro cycling?
Me it was my dad and granddad watching the TdF and the Milk Race over the years on TV, but it was particularly the TdF and a memory I have of watching it on TV with them both and Laurent Fignon (I think in yellow) in a select group climbing through some mountainous village; it was baking hot and looked amazing and I was sold on it.
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Comments

  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,259
    Stage 13 of the 1986 Tour de France
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,547
    Millar in 84 got me interested but it was LeMond v Fignon in 89 that really got me hooked (I was just starting to get into cycling as a sport for myself at that time as well).
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Watching with my very knowledgable Dutch grandfather. It was stage 15 of the '98 Tour to Les Deux Alpes. I was 10...
    _
  • jonginge
    jonginge Posts: 5,945
    "The first vial of EPO is free..."
    Only kidding.

    My first memory of the TdF was Lemond/Hinault on Alpe d'Huez. It was the following year, though, with Stephen Roche emerging from the mist at La Plagne that really got my attention.
    FCN 2-4 "Shut up legs", Jens Voigt
    Planet-x Scott
    Rides
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Probably Guerini decking it on Alpe d'Huez in 1999 and David Duffield going nuts in the commentary box, saying the guy with the camera should be chucked in jail. I sort of half-followed cycling for a couple of years after that, then started following it probably from 2003 onwards. The internet helps a lot when you follow a relatively minor sport.
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Whilst at school our French teacher used to record the coverage from Channel 4 and show it to us during lessons. We had done all the work/exams for the term, but still had to attend for a week afterwards, so he used it to fill time I guess. I have vague memories of the ’86 race, Hinault and Herrera breaking away on a mountain stage. Herrera doing all the work on the climbs and Hinault taking over on the descents. Not sure which stage it was, anyone help me with that?

    Followed the race myself in ’87 and ’88 not really understanding what was going on, like why the GC riders waited for the mountain stages rather than attacking straightaway! Fantastic race in ’89 and I was hooked. Been to see the Tour 11 times now (and lots of other races as well...) and going again this year

    Cheers Mr Jones!
  • Tom BB
    Tom BB Posts: 1,001
    Vuelta 08....didnt really know who anybody was and cant remeber what stage it was either, but it was a day in the mountains....I switched on during the final climb to see a gazillion Spainiards going absolutely mental inches away from the riders and just couldn't believe what I was seeing :D Then a week or so later, I went and watched the finish of the Tour of Britain stage in Stoke....which EBH won-not looked back really, and started cycling properly myself about 6 months after this......I'd watched track cycling on the BBC from Sydney 2000 onwards and quite enjoyed it too....doesn't hold my interest as much these days though....
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,953
    Pantani on les deux alpes in 1998.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    phreak wrote:
    Pantani on les deux alpes in 1998.

    Snap!
    _
  • All The Gears
    All The Gears Posts: 163
    The 1989 Tour de France Stage 10 in the Pyrenees.....brilliant !
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    Pross wrote:
    it was LeMond v Fignon in 89 that really got me hooked (I was just starting to get into cycling as a sport for myself at that time as well).
    I hadn't owned a bike for 20 years but I went out and bought one after watching the '89 TdF on Channel 4.
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    It was following Robert Millar, because 1. I was a keen cyclist myself (not a racing type, but cycled daily) and 2. he was a Scot.

    I became bored with it during the LA years (just to be contrary) but always kept an eye on what was happening. Especially Robbie McEwan, 'cos I love the sprinters.

    The internet has revolutionised my knowledge though.
  • seanoconn
    seanoconn Posts: 11,726
    Watching Stephen Roche win the 1987 tdf with my dad. Watched the highlights from that tour the other day, great race. Roche being interviewed after, came across as a bit of a big head but suppose he had a right to be.
    Pinno, מלך אידיוט וחרא מכונאי
  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    85 Tour. Hinault replaced Andy Ruffel as my cycling hero.
  • wicked
    wicked Posts: 844
    Was interested since the Lemond vs Hinault battle but the stage that really got me hooked was Roche at La Plagne.
    It’s the most beautiful sport in the world but it’s governed by ***ts who have turned it into a crock of ****.
  • warchild
    warchild Posts: 26
    dropin tv rip it up
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Sean Kelly winning Green and Red (Iiked that jersey) seemingly at will, then Roche taking home the big one.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • dave milne
    dave milne Posts: 703
    watching the prologue in London 2007 and getting hooked on the whole tour. Some of the best mountain stages in the last 20 years.

    Shame about the farcical goings on with vino & rasmussen but it added to the drama. Absolutely rivetting viewing
  • ju5t1n
    ju5t1n Posts: 2,028
    1987 TDF
  • hommelbier
    hommelbier Posts: 1,556
    A long time ago but reading about Brian Robinson back in the late 1950s - as a schoolboy I remember reading special editions of Miroir des Sports (?) which were available in the UK during the Tour (I was a paperboy then, which is how I discovered the magazine). Followed the sport on and off ever since but it is Robert Millar who really rekindled my interest again in modern times.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    It looks like Roche, it looks like Stephen Roche, it IS Stephen Roche :wink:
  • Gazzetta67
    Gazzetta67 Posts: 1,890
    Seeing Robert Millar on Reporting Scotland 1983 winning his 1st tour stage

    Apart from Millar, Sean Kelly was my hero along with Hinault Fignon etc

    Never tire watching my old Tour tapes from 83 & 84
  • yourpaceormine
    yourpaceormine Posts: 1,245
    A slither of footage on World of Sport, couldn't even tell you the year but probably in the region of '78. Mountain stage, awful Dicky Davies commentary. But I can picture it now.

    Same year Kays catalogue had a red Merckx bike in it, as with all things Kays catalogue in the seventies it was a dream. Someone round the corner had one, propped up outside their house. Jealous - yes.

    Passion rekindled with Robert Millar's KoM win; and a new bike that year. A Robert Millar autograph Peugeot, pearl white paint job.

    I would guess that for most people the passion started when C4 started televisng le Tour. Before C4 coverage it was 3 minutes of filling on World of Sport if they had a slot to fill.
  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Channel 4 TDF coverage.

    I then followed the just the GTs until the 2007 TDF.

    I was into MTB but seeing the TDF in London blew me away.

    Made me an avid road racing fan and rider.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Like all other kids of my age I knew, I started to take an interest in the Tour de France in 1988. But, pretentious little snob I was, I wanted to distinguish myself from all boys around me supporting Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse, and for some reason picked Fabio Parra ( I think I really wanted to support Lucho Herrera, but thought he was a bit too mainstream too :lol: ).

    I really got hooked in 1990, watching Bugno's long solo to victory in Milan-San Remo, covering the full time-span of live coverage that year
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    FJS wrote:
    But, pretentious little snob I was, I wanted to distinguish myself from all boys around me supporting Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse, and for some reason picked Fabio Parra ( I think I really wanted to support Lucho Herrera, but thought he was a bit too mainstream too :lol: ).

    Haa! I fear I do that sometimes.
    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,259
    FJS wrote:
    Like all other kids of my age I knew, I started to take an interest in the Tour de France in 1988. But, pretentious little snob I was, I wanted to distinguish myself from all boys around me supporting Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse, and for some reason picked Fabio Parra ( I think I really wanted to support Lucho Herrera, but thought he was a bit too mainstream too :lol: ).

    Fabio Parra won the stage the first time I ever saw the Tour (or any pro race) live. Morzine 1988.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    1980 watching Paris-Roubaix on World of Sport - Moser & DeVlaeminck going head to head - it seemed like a whole different world.

    1981 or 1982 - Milk Race coming to Scotland - Sid Barras' legs!

    1983 & 1984 - Robert Millar TDF exploits
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • disquieting_museeuws
    disquieting_museeuws Posts: 601
    I'd been riding a bike for fitness for a few years, but what stands out is seeing some highlights of the epic 1985 Paris-Roubaix, on 'Grandstand', I think. I watched in awe, thinking 'what the hell is this stuff!' and have been hooked since.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,707
    Robert Millar's ride to win the KoM in the 1984 Tour de France. It was shown that year on Channel 4, or S4C where I come from, and was so inspiring.

    When I acquired my Raleigh Record Sprint later that year it was Millar I wanted to emulate, though I never managed the accent or his interview technique ;)
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.

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