Carrick on Suir’s Sean Kelly won la Vuelta a España, one of cycling’s three major races, on this day in 1988.
Sean Kelly, who started out with Carrick Wheelers cycling club, is a legendary former professional road cyclist and one of the most decorated riders of the 1980s. Cyclingranking.com ranks Kelly as the third best pro cyclist of all time. During his career from 1977 to 1994, Kelly claimed an impressive 193 professional victories, including nine Monument Classics and a record seven consecutive Paris–Nice wins. He also secured the inaugural UCI Road World Cup title in 1989.
When World Rankings were introduced to cycling in March 1984, Kelly was the first cyclist to be ranked World No. 1, holding that spot for a record five consecutive years. In 1984 alone, he notched up 33 victories, cementing his status as one of the greatest riders in cycling history.
In the aftermath of his 1988 Vuelta a España win, in an article title ‘Hail Hero Kelly’, the Irish Independent commented that Kelly is a ‘fearless, ferocious competitor. He has been known to descend slippery mountain roads at breakneck speed and with a careless disregard for his own safety and to contest 40-mile-per-hour bunch sprints in a manner which would have done justice to the film Ben Hur.’
After the Vuelta, thousands of supporters came out to congratulate Kelly upon his return to Carrick on Suir and he was paraded through the town on an open top bus before a civic reception at the Town Hall.
Sources:
https://www.cyclingranking.com/rider/3613/sean-kelly
Irish Independent 09/06/1988, p14.
https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21277020-sean-kelly-returns-to-carrick/
