At the Ghisallo Cycling Museum comes an exclusive display dedicated to Stephen Roche, to the Irish champion the Museo del Ciclismo Madonna del Ghisallo in Magreglio dedicates an intense retrospective of memorabilia that will be inaugurated on Saturday 18 May 2024 at 16.00.
All of Roche’s jerseys, one jersey for each team he raced for, will be displayed in showcases in the central part of the museum. They are all Roche’s jerseys plus his pink one, the one from 1987, which is already at the Ghisallo Cycling Museum because it belongs to the Giro for Ghisallo collection donated by Davide Cassani. The exhibition is possible thanks to collector Bruno Astruc, who decided to donate precious memorabilia to the Ghisallo Cycling Museum, allowing us to reconstruct and tell the story of this great cycling champion. On this occasion Stephen Roche, unable to be present, will be in online connection with the Ghisallo Museum.
Roche – Born in Dublin, Ireland, on 28 November 1959, a complete rider, he was a professional from 1981 to 1993 with 61 victories. You could call him the champion with two faces, both in terms of results and human behaviour. It was a sensational debut in the professional ranks after being – in his adopted cycling homeland of France – a top amateur. Ten victories to begin with, including the Tour of Corsica, the Paris-Nice, the Tour of Indre et Loire, the Etoile des Espoirs, the time trial stage of the Tour de l’Avenir and a place of honour in the Grand Prix of Nations.
In the following season he only achieved a few placings; however, he was again victorious in the following two seasons in the Tour de Romandie, the Paris-Bourges, the Etoile des Espoirs and the Wallonie Grand Prix, as well as coming 3rd in the World Championship in 1983, first in the Nice-Alassio, the Tour de Romandie and the Climb de Arrate, 2nd in the Paris-Nice and 3rd in the Nations in 1984. In 1985 another explosion relaunched him. Thirteen victories, including the Criterium Internationale de la Route, the Midi-Pyrénées, the Aubisque stage of the Tour, and numerous other victories and placings. Signed by Carrera for ’86, he was knocked out by a sore knee following a fall in the Six Days of Paris.
In ’87 he had a triumphant season winning the Vuelta Valenciana, the Tour de Romandie, the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championship. These ups and downs did not only characterise the athlete, but also the man Roche, who was full of contradictions. Intelligent, open, likeable, he had everything to be the most cordial interlocutor, but he was often much criticised for certain choices, such as when he left Peugeot to switch to Redoute not respecting the rules of engagement or at the 1987 Giro d’Italia, deaf to the sporting director’s orders, he attacked his team-mate Visentini in the pink jersey. An unprecedented gesture. After a golden ’87, he did not repeat at the highest level; he raced two seasons in France and two in Belgium, always haunted by knee problems and only including a Tour of the Basque Country in 1989 in his palmarès. In 1992 he returned to Italy, to Carrera, and, offering the last flashes of his class, won a stage at the Tour de France in 1992; he ended his racing career in 1993 (source: Museo del Ciclismo).
