Sean Kelly dominated in the eighties as perhaps the best classics rider. He won 193 races including nine monuments only missing out on Tour of Flanders (three times second) for a complete sweep. In 1992, regarded as past his prime, he sprinted past Moreno Argentin in the final meters to win his final Classic, Milan San Remo. 1986 was a remarkable season for Kelly, 30 victories including the huge double, Paris-Roubaix and Milan San Remo. What is astounding is his heavy workload. By Paris-Roubaix, he raced at least 34 times - by race standards at the time was jam-packed.
“It’s only when you look back towards the end of your career, and more so afterwards, that you look at your programme you were doing and it was totally crazy. There was things like going to Pays Basque and coming back for Roubaix. If you’re really flying, you can handle that, but if you're not in really super shape, you can pay the price.”
In between, San Remo and Flanders, after finishing second overall at the Criterium International, a mad dash to airport afterwards.
“There was a flight back to Lille, but it was a very tight schedule after the race, and there were a number of times I went onto the plane with my skinsuit under my tracksuit. This was one of them.”
“If you’re not racing you’ve got to train, so why not just race? Don’t listen to journalists, if you listen to them saying you’re going to be tired because you’re racing too much, you’re going to get tired mentally.”
-Jean De Gribaldy. Kelly’s 1980s manager.
“If you wanted to win at the time, you had to better than Sean Kelly because he was there at every race. He was never a lazy rider, get in a break with him and he rode. He didn’t look around and see who was there”
-Eric Vanderaerden.
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