WHETHER YOU EXPERIENCED Stephen Roche’s incredible first Tour de France win play out on screen in 1987 or you stood mere meters from the yellow jersey near the GPO in 1998, the Tour de France has always had a robust connection with Ireland.
And some of those moments have been immortalised forever by images that span from the Wicklow Gap to the final podium at the Champs-Élysées, where yellow jerseys were placed on triumphant Irish backs. Here are some of our favourites.
The year that saw the world’s best two hundred road cyclists start their gruelling journey in Dublin city centre, eventually taking the peloton through the Wicklow Mountains down to Enniscorthy and onto Cork for three incredible days of Irish sporting history.
Hundreds of Irish cycling fans lined the Wicklow gap to witness the one and only time the Tour ever came to Ireland in its 104-year history.
For those who didn’t catch it later among the rolling hills of Wicklow and Wexford, the city centre was electric with the start of the tour as Chris Boardman donned the yellow jersey and got ready to embark on the 85th Tour de France.
Winning the individual time trial, the British cyclist is seen here on O’Connell Street underneath the Eason’s clock in a tour that Italian Marco Pantani won.
In a career that spanned over 13 years and included almost sixty professional career wins, Stephen Roche peaked during an incredible year in 1987 where he won the Triple Crown (the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the World Road Race Championships).
Eventually retiring in 1993, his son Nicholas Roche and nephew Dan Martin carry on his unforgettable legacy, both now regulars on the Tour de France circuit.
Despite the disappointing weather, nothing could change the palpable excitement of hosting the first stage of the 1998 Tour de France, which spun past one of Ireland’s most recognisable landmarks, the General Post Office.
In this image seen above, Irish history collides with an incredible sporting moment in the very first, nerve-wracking moments of the Tour that year.
By the time he retired, Sean Kelly had gained the green jersey (given for winning high finishes in a stage and winning intermediary sprints) an astounding four times during his career.
If that seems like quite a lot, it is. To this day, he still holds the third most green jersey claims of any athlete in the Tour de France. Pictured here during his third win in 1985, Kelly looks delighted in a suitably Irish colour.
During the second and final climb up Alpe d’Huez in 2013, (the year Dan Martin won the ninth stage), Christophe Riblon overtook Tejay van Garderen and his wheels rolled over a particularly familiar message, seen above.
A group of Irish fans had taken the time to write the famous GAA phrase across the road for all the world’s cameras to catch, and just for a second Ireland (and Irish divilment) was centre stage.
Seen here with yellow jersey holder Rinaldo Nocentini, who was only one of three riders that year to wear the jersey, retaining it from the seventh stage to the fourteenth, Nicolas Roche came fifth overall in the points classification in 2009.
The following year, Roche came 14th overall in the Tour de France, his best overall result to date.
Sean Kelly was a force to be reckoned with along the tour for the entire decade of the 1980s. This picture perfectly captures the beginning of it all – the exact moment Sean Kelly crossed the line to win the penultimate stage of the 1980 Tour de France, in Fontenay-sous-Bois, a Parisian suburb.
See even more incredible moments like these from the comfort of your couch and enjoy the Tour de France with a glass of wine from the Cono Sur Bicicleta range, the official sponsor and wine of the Tour de France, which takes place until July 23rd.
Note: This article has been amended due to a captioning error.
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