Sean Kelly Photo Gallery
Sean Kelly Photo Gallery
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Sean Kelly (born May 24, 1956 in Waterford, Ireland) was the dominating classics rider of his time. He was so good he won Paris-Nice an astonishing seven times in a row (1982-1988).
After an impressive amateur career he turned pro for Velda-Flandria to be a leadout rider for Freddy Maertens. Moving to another team sponsored by Flandria but managed by Jean de Gribaldy, he soon shed his domestique duties and was racing for his own account.
Kelly possessed a fearsome sprint. Moreover, he didn't need a leadout train to make his way to the front of a race, he could win the mass romps by himself. He was also a superb time trialist, as his first and second placings in the GP des Nations attests.
He hit his stride in 1982 when he won his first Paris-Nice and the first of his four Tour de France green jerseys. Though he won the Vuelta (thanks to sprint time bonuses and his time trialing) and several shorter stage races, he was never a real contender to win the Tour de France general classification. The Tour's extreme climbing did not suit his talents and he did not thrive in France's July heat.
He was a real hard man, a flahute, and won some of racing's most difficult single-day races, including Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Giro di Lombardia and Gent-Wevelgem.
Like Eddy Merckx, his last big win was Milano-San Remo. He is generally credited with winning 193 pro races, making him one of the best riders to have never won the World Championship (though he came in third twice).
Major victories and high placings:
1972:
- Junior Champion of Ireland
1973:
- Junior Champion of Ireland
1976:
- Amateur Giro di Lombardia
1977:
- 2nd place Tour of the Netherlands
1980:
- Three days of De Panne
- 2nd place Flèche Brabançonne
- 3rd place Het Volk
- 3rd place Amstel Gold Rce
- 3rd place Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
- 4th place Vuelta a España, winning 5 stages and the points classification
1981:
- 2nd place Four Days of Dunkirk
1982:
- Paris-Nice, winning 4 stages
- Tour du Haut-Var
- 3rd place Het Volk
- 3rd place Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
- 3rd place World Road Championships
- Tour de France points classification
1983:
- Tour of Switzerland, winning 2 stages, general, points and combine classifications
- Paris-Nice, winning 3 stages, general, points and mountains classifications
- Critérium International
- 2nd place Giro del Piemonte
- 2nd place Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
- Giro di Lombardia
- GP d'Isbergues
- Super Prestige Pernod trophy
1984: 33 victories
- Paris-Roubaix
- Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- Blois-Chaville
- Paris-Nice, winning 2 stages, general, points and mountains classifications
- Vuelta al Pais Vasco, winning 3 stages, general and points classifications
- Volta a Catalunya winning 4 stages, general, points and mountains classifications
- Critérium International, winning 3 stages
- GP de Plouay
- Super Prestige Pernod trophy
- 2nd place Milano-San Remo
- 2nd place Tour of Flanders
- 2nd place GP des Nations
- Tour of Switzerland points and combine classifications
1985:
- Paris-Nice
- Tour of Ireland
- Critérium des As
- Giro di Lombardia
- 2nd place Volta a Catalunya, winning points classificaton
- Tour de France points classification
- Vuelta a España points classification, winning 3 stages
- Vuelta al Pais Vasco points classification
1986:
- Milano-San Remo
- Paris-Roubaix
- Paris-Nice, winning 2 stages
- GP des Nations
- Tour of Ireland
- Vuelta al Pais Vasco general and points classificatons, winning 3 stages
- Volta a Catalunya general and points classifications
- Critérium des As
- 2nd place Tour of Flanders
- 2nd place Giro di Lombardia
- 2nd place Paris-Brussels
- 2nd place Critérium International
- 2nd place Three Days of De Panne
- 2nd place Paris-Bourges
- 3rd place Vuelta a España, winning points classification and 2 stages
1987:
- Paris-Nice
- Vuelta al Pais Vasco general, points and mountains classifications
- Tour of Ireland
- Critérium International
- 2nd place Tour of Flanders
- 2nd place Three Days of De Panne
1988:
- Vuelta a España winning general, points, combine classifications and 2 stages
- Gent-Wevelgem
- Paris-Nice
- Catalonian Week
- 2nd place Tour du Haut-Var
- 3rd place Paris-Tours
- 3rd place Tour of Great Britain
- 3rd place Tour of Ireland
1989:
- Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- Tour de France points classification
- 2nd place Het Volk
- 2nd place Critérium des As
- 3rd place Trofeo Baracchi (riding with Gianni Bugno)
- 3rd place World Road Championships
- World Cup overall winner
1990:
- Tour of Switzerland, winning general and points classifications
- 2nd place Wincanton CLassic
- 3rd place Clasica San Sebastian
1991:
- Tour of Ireland
- Giro di Lombardia
- Tour of Switzerland points classification
1992
- Milano-San Remo
- Trofeo Luis Puig
- 4th place Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
1977: Flandria-Velda
1978: Flandria-Velda-Lano
1979: Splendor-Eurosoap
1980: Splendor-Admiral
1981: Wickes-Splendor-Europ Decor
1982-1983: Sem-France Loire
1984-1985: Skil-Reydel
1986-1987: KAS
1988: KAS-Canal 10
1989-1991: PDM-Concorde
1992: Lotus-Festina
1993: Festina-Lotus
1994: Catavana-AS Corbeil Essonnes-Cedico
Nickname: King Kelly
Kelly rides the 1982 Tour de France prologue.
Sean Kelly leads the pack in the 1983 World championships.
Kelly digs deep on the way to La Ruchere in stage 15 of the 1984 Tour de France.
More climbing for Kelly, this time up l'Alpe d'Huez in stage 16 of the 1984 Tour.
Kelly gets ready to ride the 1984 Giro di Lombardia.
Kelly drives for the win in the 1985 Giro di Lombardia.
After Kelly won the 1985 Giro di Lombardia he got some help cleaning up.
Sean Kelly wins the 1986 Milano-San Remo in front of Greg LeMond.
Kelly doesn't seem too stressed at the start of the 1988 Milano-San Remo.
Kelly climbing to Villard de Lans in stage 12 of the 1988 Tour de France.
Chambery, France: Sean Kelly gets third behind Dmitri Konyshev and winner Greg Lemond at the 1989 World Road Cycling Championships.
1990 Tour de France: Kelly gets ready to ride the prologue. Note the toe clips and straps, he was a very late convert to clipless pedals.
Sean Kelly rides the 1990 Giro di Lombardia.
Kelly at stage 1a in Lyon of the 1991 Tour de France.
Sean Kelly wins the 1991 Giro di Lombardia.
Kelly rode for PDM from 1989 to 1991
1992 Milano-San Remo, Kelly wins in front of Moreno Argentin.
Kelly at the start of the 1992 Paris-Roubaix.
Kelly in the start house of stage 3 of the 1992 Giro d'Italia.
Sean Kelly starts his prologue ride in the 1992 Giro d'Italia.
Stage 9 in Luxembourg of the 1992 Tour de France.
1992 Tour de France stage 14: Kelly climbs to l'Alpe d'Huez.