Nissan Nostalgia-1992 Stage Start, Galway.
dolan_driver
Posts: 826
I recently found a few old photos I took of the stage start of Stage 3 of the 1992 Nissan Classic which started in my home town of Galway and I thought they might be of interest here. The stage was between Galway and Limerick.
The photos were taken with a camera that dated from the 1970's so the quality is poor and many of the shots are blurry. However, I think there is as much good stuff in here as there is bad and it is probably worth sharing. I don't have a scanner so these photos are digital photos of the actual printed photos but I think they are fairly good reproductions of the original images.
Many of the riders will be recognisable while one or two will cause some head scratching. Sadly no photos of any bikes. I would love to have a photo of Edwig Van Hooydonck's giant Colnago from that day. Have a look at the photos and see who you can identify. I will stick up a copy of the start list at the very end. I'll start off with the easy stuff.
.
DD.
The photos were taken with a camera that dated from the 1970's so the quality is poor and many of the shots are blurry. However, I think there is as much good stuff in here as there is bad and it is probably worth sharing. I don't have a scanner so these photos are digital photos of the actual printed photos but I think they are fairly good reproductions of the original images.
Many of the riders will be recognisable while one or two will cause some head scratching. Sadly no photos of any bikes. I would love to have a photo of Edwig Van Hooydonck's giant Colnago from that day. Have a look at the photos and see who you can identify. I will stick up a copy of the start list at the very end. I'll start off with the easy stuff.
.DD.
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DD.
DD.
PTP Runner Up 2015
No, I don't think so. I'd say that is just one of the locals. In the third-from-last photo it looks like the guy in the purple and yellow top is Graham Watson while the guy at the front of the podium, collecting his bike, is Brian Holm. I think that is Allan Pieper on the podium.
DD.
PTP Runner Up 2015
Olaf Ludwig riding for Panasonic and the final Tulip rider looks like Adri Van Der Poel.
Coolest.
Rider.
Ever.
Is that Bruno Cornillet in the background?
The aforementioned and sadly departed Dave Rayner, looking very classy in his Buckler gear and about to mount God's own choice in bicycles, an early nineties Colnago! I like the dual-colour bar tape too, white into yellow. It'd be no harm if that made a comeback.
DD.
Here's one I took from a start in Dublin, not sure how to embed so feel free to put it up
Sorry, should have said they were in the folder when you clicked the images!
Colin Sturgess in British Champ stripes.
PTP Runner Up 2015
DD.
Working through the pics I've spied Henrik Redant (Lotto) but can't see Sturgess. Yates was National Champ then
DD.
PTP Runner Up 2015
So that makes 3 future RR World champs in those photos : Armstrong, Brochard, Leblanc and Ludwig stood on the podium with Armstrong and Indurain a year after these photos were taken
No suggestions yet as to who the Festina rider is after Sean Kelly?
DD.
Thomas Wegmuller (Festina)
The King of the Mountains. I think he is a PDM rider but I can't identify him. It could be Erik Breukink. Ten points for anyone who can identify the team of the rider in multicoloured fluorescent jersey.
DD.
The PDM rider does look like Breukink.
No, that team weren't in the race.
Here is a hint. The team in question were neither English nor Irish and it could be said that they were a trailblazer for a current team in the European peloton that recently unveiled their new jersey that looks a little like the Newcastle football kit. One of their riders also came very close to winning a stage in the 1992 Nissan Classic and if he had, it would have been one of the most unexpected victories in European racing that year! It'll still be hard to identify them but somebody might know who they are.
DD.
They are the only other team of that era that I can think of who had a multiple fluorescent kit.
DD.
I don't know how it came to pass that Southern Sun - M-Net managed to get an invite to the Nissan Classic but whoever it was that came up with the idea, it was a good one. Maybe Pat McQuaid had retained his contacts with his friends in South Africa from the late seventies and they put things in place for the team to race in Ireland that week.
One of the things we used to do as budding cyclists after each Nissan stage finish in Galway was head to the local hotels to see which team was staying where and whose autograph we could get. We would watch the mechanics working on the latest racing technology and annoy them with all sorts of inane questions. We could also check to see if any of the teams had any excess components or clothing for sale. Most teams had nothing but the guys at Motorola seemed to well ahead of the posse because they had a huge amount of stuff tucked away in their truck specifically for sale to us bike fans. The Motorola mechanics made a pretty penny that evening in Galway! We came across the Southern Sun team at one hotel and, if memory serves me well, all of the bikes were different. Different frames with different group sets. I guess all the riders were racing on bikes they had purchased themselves. Southern Sun - M-Net were a small outfit but they gave it a good shot that day into Galway.
In these three photos, Mayor of Galway Padraic McCormack has drawn the attention of two of the riders, or more specifically it appears his mayoral chain had caught their attention. Can anyone identify the two riders? One of them was a renowned entertainer amongst the riders of the various teams he rode for.
DD.