Roche - Delgado La Plagne 87

[raparee100]

Absolutley stunning ride. He said in video he went from small ring lowest grear, say 39 x 25 to 12th gear. To go to 53 x 13, astounding on a such a gradient. Don't know the final 5kms of La Plagne, but I'd guess its 8 - 10% gradient. This is the moment he won the Tour and broke Delgado. Its no wonder he was in oxygen debt at the end of the stage. He must have been doing 25km/h or more and pushing a giant 53 x 14/13 gear in his pursuit of Delgado. Brilliant Tour victory by a great Irish athlete.

[daveodonaghue]

thanks for the clip. love it.

[ibanitza]

i saw this stage live

in 1987

and it will stay with me

till you

know when

[fulhamrobadob]

Excellent stuff and lovely to see - and hear - Hugh McIllvaney too

[gemapa6]

great vid thnx a lot

[DKP4]

Great stuff, what a tough bastard

[ddfeim]

Epic battle. Two real giants fighting to death. This is cycling

[chipper30uk]

Brilliant video!Thanks for this.

[macdonaldjohnd]

Stephen Roche was a good pro, and great TT rider, but theres no way he would have won the Tour de France in '87 if Lemond had not been in that horrible hunting accident.

[slickedmachine]

@macdonaldjohnd Roche was on fire all year: Paris Nice, Liege, Giro, Tour, Worlds. Plus he was good enough to beat Delgado, good enough to beat Lemond. Nothing agaisnt Lemond, it's just you don't know your cycling.

[dan32113]

@slickedmachine Sean Kelly was world number 1. Roche is Irelands 2nd best cyclist!

[MauricioBarrera1]

Feats like this multiply cycling nuts around the world. Cheers from Colombia-south America.

[beats8]

....amazing, i remember watching that with my family on the Channel 4 programme at 6 oclock. I still get goosebumps when Phil asks who it is whos just come round the corner. '87 tour must go down as one of the best......with 1989 too.

[haikutee]

EPIC!

[sprintbass]

kimmage pissed me off because he made a comparrison to lance and cancer...I myself dont like lance..and he wont be taken down because he is a cash cow..between his sponcers and things he generates alot...id love to see him go down but he wont...now kimmage, to use cancer or to even suggest it is bad...I know what he was trying to say but he picked poor words in saying it..

[equinoxranch]

Two phenominal cyclists, both on and off the bike.

Speaking just to Roche........., I always appreciated his determination and never, ever a word of complaint...., unlike a certain countryman who bitched about everything and everyone in the peloton.

Thanx Stephen and Pedro........, you both did it so right.

[sprintbass]

are you talking about kimmage?

[BigPatMcBanton]

AndyShell catch yourself on you knob..

[primaeclasses]

Your talking through your rear end....the drug roche is alleged to have taken did not even exist in 1987...be careful what you say...there are liable laws !!

[chipper30uk]

Well said mate Stephen Roche is my ultimate hero.Paul Kimmage is an Asshole loser !

[DaveS63]

I agree that radios have taken the tactical element, an important one, out of the sport. You can hear from Roche that he was deciding himself how to play this climb. No he would be controlled by his team boss. Faster, slower, change gear now etc

[phlakaton]

too many robots nowadays in cycling. Radios have taken the spirit of thinking out of the race in so many ways.

[velovie34]

roche the best rider by far that year

[velovie34]

roche..the best rider by far that year

[PepeMV1971]

Perico the best

[micklee2604]

I don't agree Ovidiu- Roche won the tour by being the best time-trialer.. Delgado had to improve on this before he could win a tour.

[OvidiuStinga]

A day of shame or how the cars made Roche win the Tour. Delgado deserved it much more.

[impartial67]

Sour Grapes my friend

[sjl62]

This interview shows how smart Roche's tactics were that day. This is perhaps the finest example of brains beating brawn in recent Tour history.

[Matteomjb]

Indeed, procycling mag I think, said much the same when they listed this clip in a recent issue. They said Evans might have won the Tour had he done the same at Plateau de Beille last year, instead of trying to stay with Contador & Rasmussen.

[sjl62]

I know. I was kicking myself after that last mountain stage. If he hadn't tried so hard to stay with Rasmussen and Contador he could have hitched a ride with Sastre or Leipheimer. Instead he chased, blew, and got dropped by everyone else in the top 5.

[McBinary]

regarding Evans, you'll remember it was not a devastating attack indeed at some stages Evans looked the strongest and the others might crack.

I feel he was out foxed by Johan Bruneel there.

[haikutee]

i'll remember that stage

and that day

for ever and ever!

[McBinary]

same here was one of the most dramatic tour stages ever

[jvelascogomez]

Perico,eres el segoviano más grande de la historia,y sin ayudarte nunca de los coches

[lesmcluffalot]

Kewlios

[chris14091975]

This is the 2nd greatest tour in the 80's (after 89) What courage. What a fight on La Plagne.

[owenpetard]

One of the great tour moments of all time. There must be a clip on here somewhere with Liggett's original commentary, which is hilarious.

[vaumat]

No se cree nadie que no hicieras nada para acercarte a Perico. Toda la ascensión fuiste parado, y en 500 metros eliminaste la distancia que te sacaba. Delgado...otra de las jugadas de los organizadores del Tour...

[WhiteyRFC]

brilliant clip

[makukax]

if you can`t move the arms, the legs., you r nearly to death .. ... fullero mierdero, no te lo crees ni tú, haberte muerto, listo! Y si Contador me recuerda un poco a Perico, va para fenómeno;)

[simoncbr900rr]

these were the greatest years of the tdf

[eatsandsleeps]

For penyacuriel , what's worst, drafting support cars or doping like Delgado ?

[back2back75]

Delgado never doped, smartass. It was proven that there was a mistake during the tests.

Sour grapes, I guess...

[angus4463]

Thats not really accurate.. he tested positive during the Tour for Probenicid.. a"masking" agent that was banned by other cycling entities, but was not by the UCI at the time.. Since ben outlawed. NO reason to have that in your system bu to mask some form of doping..

[ermigue]

My friend, there was ONE reason: probenecide was a medicine and Delgado ASKED FOR PERMISSION to UCI, but Tour organizers and UCI was in war then. Delgado should take it one entire week to mask doping, but it doesn´t appear in any other test after, and he passes one every day because he was the leader.

[angus4463]

Excuse me my friend... he DID test positive for Probenicide. It was a case of one outlawed it and the other didn't. The fact is.. there is NO reason to have that in your system except to act as a masking agent...

[WELLBRAN]

I bet Pedro did not know it was not banned and he was very very lucky to get away with it

[angus4463]

It wasnt a mistake.. It was a case of Probenicide being banned by other cycling entities and Olympics, but not the UCI at the time. He got out of the jam due to that and not that he wasnt doping...

[ermigue]

Well Angus, so you finally recognice Delgado was not positive ("but not the UCI at the time"), so I insist, Probenecide as masking agent should be used during 10-15 days in a row, and Delgado only used it ONE day. Why the Societé Tour de France director and the road director was expulsed after this Tour? Delgado was so powerful? No. In the Societé Tour de France there was many people ashamed due to his dirty behaviour. Read the entire case after talk again.

[luisepunto]

Roche en el 87...muy bueno. No os recuerda Contador a Perico? Veremos..

[fasovent]

Magnifique. Les meilleusr moments du cyclisme avant ces années 90 avec les robots du vélo.

[Walthamstow19]

Brilliant.

Hugh McIllvanney is the interviewer. And the incomparable live commentary from Phil and Paul on Ch4.

Thank you so much for posting this clip.

[ElChristo007]

Great footage! It's hard to find TDF stuff from the 80's these days...

[sprintbass]

i was 14 when this happend...ill never foret it..i miss those days...when i comepare then to now i feel empty inside..im greatful i grew up in the golden age of cycling

[penyacuriel]

Estoy contigo NOELHM, menudo individuo.

Roche going up taken to the cars, the big irish cheater!!

SIEMPRE PERICO!!

[LEE211272]

a superhuman effort from roche, 87 was truely his year, thanks for the vid

[Noelhm]

Roche fue un tramposo. Hizo la parodia del oxígeno para que lo evacuaran en helicóptero y recuperarse varias horas antes que Delgado que estuvo varias horas atendiendo a los medios y a la organización.

[qprcanada]

excellent roche was all class

[davykev]

best tour ever.Would love to hear Jimmy Magee's commentary.

[eamonnca1]

I remember Magee's commentary. He'd heard that Roche was motoring and wasn't surprised to see him cross the line. Ligget hadn't heard about this, and he ended up giving the better commentary that better captured the excitement of what had just happened.

[davidoffon]

@davykev no tanks, just infantry.

[sheppezz]

nice, thanks matteo.