Stephen Roche (; born 28 November 1959) is an Irish former professional

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

and the Giro d'Italia general classification, plus the World road race championship, the first was Eddy Merckx. Roche's rise coincided with that of fellow Irishman Sean Kelly. Although one of the finest cyclists of his generation and admired for his pedalling style, he struggled with knee injuries and never contended in the Grand Tours post-1987. He had 58 professional career wins. All of these wins still stand, despite Roche having been accused by an Italian judge of taking EPO in the later part of his career.

Early life and amateur career

On completion of his apprenticeship as a

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

in a Dublin dairy and following a successful amateur career in Ireland with the "Orwell Wheelers" club coached by Noel O'Neill of Dundrum (which included winning the Irish Junior Championship in 1977 and the

Rás Tailteann Rás Tailteann (; "Tailteann Race"), often shortened to the Rás, is an annual international cycling stage race, held in Ireland. Traditionally held in May, the race returned after a hiatus in 2022 as 5 day event held in June. By naming the rac ...

in 1979), Roche joined the

Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt or A.C.B.B. is a French sports club based in the suburbs of Paris in the commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. The club offers a variety of sports, but is primarily known for cycling, rugby union, judo, figure s ...

amateur team in Paris to prepare for the

1980 Olympic games The 1980 Olympics may refer to: * 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, United States * 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officiall ...

in Moscow. Soon after his arrival Roche won the amateur Paris–Roubaix, escaping with

Dirk Demol Dirk Demol (born 4 November 1959) is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist and a cycling team manager. He is currently assistant sports director of . As a rider, he specialized in the spring classics, having himself won the 1988 editio ...

and sprinting to victory on the track at

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

. Roche was told by his directeur sportif that if he did not win he "would be sent home to Ireland that day". He also finished on the podium at the early-season Paris–Ezy road race and finished 14th overall in the Sealink International stage race which was won by

Bob Downs Robert Downs (born 24 July 1955) is a former English professional cyclist from Basildon, Essex. Cycling career He won the Sealink International in 1980 and competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the Men's 100 kilometres Team Time Trial. He ...

. However, a knee injury caused by a poorly fitted shoe plate led to a disappointing ride in Moscow, where he finished 45th. However, on return to France, August to October saw Roche win 19 races. That led to a contract with the Peugeot professional cycling team for 1981.

Professional career

Roche scored his first professional victory by beating Bernard Hinault in the Tour of Corsica. Less than a month later he won

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...

(where he became the first, and still the only, new pro to win Paris–Nice) despite illness following the descent from Mont Ventoux and finished his debut season with victories in the Tour de Corse, Circuit d'Indre-et-Loire and

Étoile des Espoirs The Étoile des Espoirs was an end of the season French cycling stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day even ...

races with a second place behind Hinault in the Grand Prix des Nations. In total, his debut yielded 10 victories. In 1982 his best performance was second in the Amstel Gold Race behind Jan Raas, but his rise continued in 1983 with victories in the Tour de Romandie,

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

and

Paris–Bourges Paris–Bourges is a French road bicycle race. The race originally started in Paris and ran to the town of Bourges in the Région Centre. However, in recent year with the length of races shortened it has become impossible to link the two cities a ...

. In the 1983

, Roche finished 13th and he finished the 1983 season with a bronze medal in the world cycling championship at Alterheim in Zurich. In 1984, riding for

La Redoute La Redoute is a French multi channel retailer founded by Joseph Pollet in 1837. La Redoute specialises in ready to wear apparel and home decor, La Redoute is the 2nd largest seller of women's apparel and the 3rd largest seller of linens in Fran ...

following contractual wrangles with

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

(the settlement of which led Roche to sport Peugeot shorts for two years before winning a court action against Vélo Club de Paris Peugeot) he repeated his Tour de Romandie win, won Nice-Alassio, Subida a Arrate and was second in

. He finished 25th in that year's

. In 1985, Roche won the Critérium International, the Route du Sud and came second in

and third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. In the 1985

Roche won stage 18 to the Aubisque and finished on the podium in 3rd position, 4 minutes and 29 seconds behind winner Bernard Hinault.

Chronic knee injury

In 1986 at a six-day event with UK professional Tony Doyle at

Paris-Bercy Gare de Paris Bercy, officially Gare de Paris Bercy Bourgogne - Pays d'Auvergne, is one of the seven mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. It handles about 4.3 million passengers annually according to the estimates of the SNCF, m ...

, Roche crashed at speed and damaged his right knee. This destroyed his 1986 season at new team with little to show other than second in a stage of the Giro. Roche finished the 1986

48th, 1h 32m behind Greg LeMond, a Tour that Roche described as like "entering a dark tunnel" of pain. The injury and then associated back problems recurred throughout his career (for example in the 1989 Tour Roche abandoned after banging the problem knee on his handlebars) and a series of operations appeared to only address direct or consequential symptoms of the core injury. Later non-surgical intervention under Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt in Munich made some difference but the injury required constant care. By the end of his career Roche was unable to compete at his best because of back problem which led to a loss of power in the left leg. In retirement he described riding the 1993 Tour de France "just for fun". He finished 13th, riding for Claudio Chiappucci).

1987 Triple Crown

In 1987, Roche had a tremendous season. In the spring, he won the

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (; en, Tour of the Valencian Community or Tour of Valencia) is a road cycling stage race held in the Valencian Community (''Comunitat Valenciana''), Spain. Its position in the cycling calendar means it is often ...

, taking a third victory in the Tour de Romandie and fourth place plus a stage win in

. He also finished second in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the closest he got to winning a professional 'Monument' Classic. He blamed it on tactical naiveté and "riding like an amateur". In the Giro d'Italia, Roche took three stage wins (including a team win with in the team time trial) en route to overall victory and became the first Giro victor from outside mainland Europe. Roche's stage wins that year in the Giro were stage 1b, the time trial downhill on the Poggio into San Remo and stage 22, a individual time trial into St. Vincent. Despite his stage wins, the race is remembered for the stage from

Lido di Jesolo 250px, Location of Jesolo in the province of Venice. Lido di Jesolo in Jesolo, in the province of Venice, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is loca ...

Sappada Sappada (german: Pladen or ; in the local Southern Bavarian dialect;Dizionario Sappadino-Italian ...

, where Roche, contravening team orders, broke away alone early and despite being caught late in the race, had the strength to go with the counterattack and take the pink jersey from his teammate

Roberto Visentini Roberto Visentini (born 2 June 1957) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist who won the White Jersey in the 1978 Giro, finished in the top 10 of the 1979, 1980, and 1981 Giro's, made the podium in 1983, wore the Maglia Rosa for ...

, who had been previously leading the classification. His behaviour in the stage gained him the tifosi's hatred. It was said the only member of his team that Roche could rely on not to ride against him was his domestique

Eddy Schepers Eddy Schepers (born 12 December 1955) is a Belgian former professional cyclist. He was a professional cyclist from 1978 to 1990 where he rode for many teams including C&A, Carrera and . He started out in the C&A cycling team of Belgian Eddy Mer ...

, although Roche recruited Panasonic riders and old ACBB teammates

Robert Millar Philippa York (born Robert Millar on 13 September 1958) is a Scottish journalist and former professional road racing cyclist. York, who competed when known as Robert Millar, is one of Britain's most successful cyclists. York won the "King of ...

and Australian Phil Anderson to protect him with Schepers on the Marmolada climb (a day known as the "Marmolada Massacre"). Roche finished the Giro exhausted but favourite for the

. Following Bernard Hinault's retirement, Laurent Fignon's choppy form and with Greg LeMond injured following an accidental shooting while hunting, the 1987 Tour was open. It was also one of the most mountainous since the war, with 25 stages. Roche won the

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

stage 10 to Futuroscope and came second on stage 19. On stage 21, crossing the Galibier and Madeleine and finishing at

La Plagne La Plagne () is a French ski area in the alpine valley of the Tarentaise (Savoie). Since 2003, La Plagne and the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs form Paradiski's ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes. In 2014, La Plagne was ...

, Roche attacked early, was away for several hours but was caught on the last climb. His nearest rival

Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Robledo (; born 15 April 1960), also known as Perico (), is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989. Delgado is 171 centimetres tall (5& ...

then attacked. Despite being almost one-and-a-half minutes in arrears midway up the last climb, Roche pulled the deficit back to 4 seconds. Roche collapsed and lost consciousness and was given oxygen. When asked when revived if he was okay, he replied "Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite" ("yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away"). The yellow jersey (worn by the leader of the general classification) changed hands several times with

Charly Mottet Charly Mottet (born 16 December 1962 in Valence, Drôme) is a French former professional cyclist (1983 to 1994). He was one of the best French road cyclists of his era. His daughter, Eva Mottet, was also a road racing cyclist. She competed as a ...

, Roche,

Jean François Bernard Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Je ...

and Delgado all wearing it before Roche used the final time trial to overturn a half-minute gap and win the Tour by 40 seconds, which was at the time the second-narrowest margin (in 1968 Jan Janssen had beaten Herman Van Springel by 38 seconds; two years after Roche's victory, Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds). Roche became only the fifth cyclist in history to win the Tour and the Giro in the same year. He was also the only Irishman to win the Tour de France. Irish

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Charles Haughey joined Roche on the podium on the Champs-Élysées. Later that year, with victory at the World road race championship in Villach in Austria, Roche became only the second to win the

Triple Crown of Cycling The Triple Crown of Cycling is a term used in road bicycle racing to denote the achievement of winning three major titles in the same season, usually the Giro d'Italia general classification, the Tour de France general classification and the UCI ...

. Roche arrived with insufficient training although he worked during the 23-lap, undulating terrain for his teammate Sean Kelly and escaped in the race-winning break only while covering for his countryman. With Moreno Argentin in the following group, Kelly did not chase and as the break slowed and jostling for position began for a sprint, Roche attacked from the finish and crossed the line with metres to spare. Victory in the season-long ''

Super Prestige Pernod International The Super Prestige Pernod was a season-long competition in road bicycle racing between 1958 and 1987. For the first edition it was known as the Prestige Pernod, and for the last four years as the Super Prestige Pernod International. History Disa ...

'' competition was assured. Roche was given the freedom of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in late September 1987. Several days later the 1987 edition of the

Nissan Classic The Tour of Ireland (Irish: Turas na hÉireann, known from 1985 to 1992 as the Nissan Classic) was a bicycle stage race held in August, which ran for 35 editions over a 56-year period. Irish rider Seán Kelly recorded the most wins, four. Th ...

began and Roche rode strongly to finish second behind Kelly.

Post-1987 career

At the close of 1987, Roche moved to Fagor MBK, bringing English riders Sean Yates and Malcolm Elliot,

1984 Tour de France The 1984 Tour de France was the 71st edition of the Tour de France, run over in 23 stages and a prologue, from 29 June to 22 July. The race was dominated by the Renault team, who won the team classification and ten stages: Renault's French rider ...

King of the Mountains winner

and domestique

. The team was criticised for containing too many English speakers. The 1988 season began badly with a recurrence of the knee injury and Roche began a gradual decline. In 1989 he again took second in

(making four second places) and the

Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme The Catalan Cycling Week (''Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme'' in Catalan) was a multi-stage road bicycle race held in Catalonia, Spain. Held annually from 1963 until 2005, it was run as a 2.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour in the second half of March. ...

. Roche finished the

1989 Giro d'Italia The 1989 Giro d'Italia was the 72nd edition of the race. It started off in Taormina on 21 May with a flat stage that ended in Catania. The race concluded in Florence with a individual time trial on 11 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race ...

ninth behind Laurent Fignon. During the

1989 Tour de France The 1989 Tour de France was the 76th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race consisted of 21 stages and a prologue, over . It started on 1 July 1989 in Luxembourg before taking an anti-clockwise route through France ...

, Roche withdrew due to his knee. There were problems with his team in and he changed again. In 1990, racing for

Histor–Sigma Histor–Sigma was a Belgian professional cycling team that existed from 1986 to 1991. In media In Japan, in the 1993-1994 TV series ''Gosei Sentai Dairanger is a Japanese ''tokusatsu'' television series. It was the seventeenth production in ...

, he won the

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk (french: Quatre Jours de Dunkerque) is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been h ...

and 1991 riding for Roger De Vlaeminck's Tonton Tapis–GB brought victories in the

and Critérium International. In the

1991 Tour de France The 1991 Tour de France was the 78th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 6 to 28 July. The total race distance was 22 stages over . The race was won by Miguel Indurain, whose Banesto team also won the team classification. The points ...

, Roche missed the start for his team's

Team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ( ...

and was forced to withdraw due to controversially missing the time cut. In the Grand Tours, he was ninth in the 1989 Giro, and won a stage of the

1992 Tour de France The 1992 Tour de France was the 79th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 4 to 26 July. The total race distance was 21 stages and a prologue over . In honor of the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union, the Tour visited ...

in appalling conditions into La Bourboule (again racing for but now in support of Claudio Chiappucci) and en route to a final ninth place. Riding the last edition of the Nissan Classic Tour of Ireland, Roche was in many breaks but finished fifth. A year later, he was again ninth in the

1993 Giro d'Italia The 1993 Giro d'Italia, ( en, Tour of Italy), was the 76th edition of the race. It started off in Porto Azzurro on 23 May with a split stage, with the first leg being a mass-start stage and the latter an individual time trial. The race ended ...

and 13th in the

1993 Tour de France The 1993 Tour de France was the 80th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 3 to 25 July. It consisted of 20 stages, over a distance of . The winner of the previous two years, Miguel Induráin, successfully defended his title. The poin ...

. Roche retired at the end of an anonymous 1993 which yielded a single win, in the post-

criterium at Chateau Chinon.

Doping

In May 1990,

Paul Kimmage Paul Kimmage (born 7 May 1962 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish sports journalist and former amateur and professional road bicycle racer, who was road race champion of Ireland in 1981, and competed in the 1984 Olympic Games. He wrote for ''The ...

– a former professional and teammate of Roche at

Fagor Fagor Electrodoméstico was a large domestic and commercial appliance manufacturer based in the Basque Country, Spain and run by the Mondragon Corporation. Fagor was Spain's largest consumer appliance company and the fifth largest electrical ap ...

, as well as a fellow Dubliner – published an account of life in the peloton. His book '' Rough Ride'' exposed drug use apparently endemic in the peloton but spoke in fawning terms about Roche. Despite this, publication resulted in a threat of litigation from Roche. It was reported in the Rome newspaper, ''

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

'', in January 2000 that

Francesco Conconi Francesco Conconi (born 19 April 1935 in Como, Italy) is an Italian sports doctor and scientist, with disciples such as Michele Ferrari and Luigi Cecchini. Conconi is a professor at the University of Ferrara in Italy where he heads the ''Centro Stu ...

, a professor at the

University of Ferrara The University of Ferrara ( it, Università degli Studi di Ferrara) is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 5 ...

involved with administering

erythropoietin Erythropoietin (; EPO), also known as erythropoetin, haematopoietin, or haemopoietin, is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted mainly by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia; it stimulates red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) in the bo ...

(EPO) to riders on the Carrera team with which Roche had some of his best years, had provided riders including Roche with EPO. Roche denied the allegations. This was further reported in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' several days later, Roche again denying EPO. In March 2000 the Italian judge Franca Oliva published a report detailing the investigation into sports doctors including Conconi. This official judicial investigation unequivocally found that Roche was administered EPO in 1993, his last year in the peloton. Files from part of the investigation allegedly detail a number of aliases for Roche including Rocchi, Rossi, Rocca, Roncati, Righi and Rossini. In 2004 Judge Oliva again alleged that Roche had taken EPO during 1993 but due to the statute of limitations, neither Roche nor his teammates at Carrera would be prosecuted.

Personal life

Roche lives in

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

on the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

. Roche remained involved in the sport by founding cycling camps in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, by taking part in race organisations and working as a commentator on cycling events for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

. He has four children with his former wife Lydia; the couple divorced in 2004. One son,

Nicolas Roche Nicolas Roche (; born 3 July 1984) is an Ireland, Irish former professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He has twice been national champion and has twice finished in the top ten of the Vuelta a Espa� ...

, was a professional until his retirement in 2021, and was the 2009 and 2016 Irish National Road Race Champion. Stephen's brother

Lawrence Roche Laurence Roche (also written as Lawrence Roche) (born 15 October 1967 in Dublin) is a former professional Irish people, Irish road racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1989 to 1991, where he rode for the for two years and then for Tonton T ...

was also a professional cyclist who completed his only Tour de France in 1991. They were teammates on the Tonton Tapis–GB team. Roche's nephew

Dan Martin Daniel Martin may refer to: People *Dan Martin (actor) (born 1951), American actor *Dan Martin (drama educator) (born 1953), American academic *Dan Martin (cyclist) (born 1986), Irish road bicycle racer *Dan Martin (footballer) (born 1986), British ...

was also a professional cyclist and was the 2008 Irish National Road Race Champion. Roche completed the 2008 New York Marathon in a time of 4:21:09. In April 2022 a Spanish court found Roche guilty of fraud and ordered him to repay €733,866 to creditors of his bankrupt cycling holiday company in

. The court determined he had funded his lifestyle with the company's assets instead of paying back creditors.

Roche featured in a well-known Irish television advert for Galtee cheese in 1987, shortly after winning the

Career achievements

Major results

Source: ;1977 : 1st MaillotIrlanda

Road race, National Junior Road Championships ;1979 : 1st MaillotIrlanda

Irish National Elite Cyclo-Cross Championships : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stages 2 & 9a ;1980 : 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs : 2nd Road race, National Amateur Road Championships : 2nd Grand Prix des Nations Amateurs ;1981 : 1st Jersey white

Overall

::1st Stage 7b (

ITT ITT may refer to: Communication * Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles. Mathematics *Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory *Intensional type theory B ...

) : 1st

Overall

::1st Prologue & Stage 4b (

) : 1st

Overall

Tour d'Indre-et-Loire The Tour d'Indre-et-Loire was a multi-day road bicycle race held annually from 1970 to 1982 in the department of Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it ha ...

::1st Stage 3 : 2nd Grand Prix des Nations : 2nd

Grand Prix de Monaco The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...

: 3rd Critérium des As : 3rd

Grand Prix de Cannes The Grand Prix de Cannes was a single-day road cycling held annually in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, ...

: 4th Overall Critérium International : 4th Overall

: 5th Overall

Tour Méditerranéen Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

: 6th Overall

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir ( en, Tour of the Future) is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents ...

::1st Stage 7 (

) ;1982 : 2nd Amstel Gold Race : 3rd Overall

: 3rd Trofeo Baracchi (with

Jacques Bossis Jacques Bossis (born 22 December 1952) is a French former professional road bicycle racer. As an amateur he won Bordeaux-Saintes in 1973. He was professional from 1976 to 1985 and won 7 victories. He wore the yellow jersey as leader of the gener ...

) : 4th Overall Tour Midi-Pyrénées : 5th Overall

: 6th Overall

: 9th Liège–Bastogne–Liège : 9th

Tour du Haut Var The Tour du Haut Var ( en, Tour of the Haut Var) is an early-season two-day road bicycle race in the Var department region in the south of France. Until 2008 it was run as a one-day race, part of the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, the race transformed ...

;1983 : 1st Jersey green

Overall Tour de Romandie : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

: 1st

: 2nd

: 3rd

Road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

: 3rd Overall Tour Midi-Pyrénées : 3rd GP Ouest–France : 4th Overall

: 5th Overall

Grand Prix du Midi Libre The Grand Prix du Midi Libre (referred to as just Midi Libre) was a multiple-stage road cycling course in the south of France. The race, named after the newspaper that organized it, was first organized in 1949 and was an important preparation cou ...

: 5th Overall Critérium International : 5th Grand Prix des Nations : 7th

Clásica de San Sebastián The Donostia-Donostia Klasikoa — Clásica San Sebastián-San Sebastián (San Sebastián Classic) is a one-day professional men's bicycle road race in northern Spain that has been held every summer since 1981 in San Sebastián. It is the mo ...

: 7th

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, ...

;1984 : 1st Jersey green

Overall Tour de Romandie : 1st Subida a Arrate : 1st

Nice–Alassio Nice–Alassio was a professional one-day road cycling race that was held from 1979 until 1997. It was known as Monte Carlo–Alassio from 1993 to 1996 and the Alassio Cup in 1997. The race was held in February as a preparation race for Milan–Sa ...

: 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 6 : 2nd Overall

: 2nd Overall Tour de l'Oise : 3rd Overall Critérium International : 3rd Grand Prix des Nations : 5th Giro di Lombardia : 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ::1st Jersey green

Points classification : 6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne : 7th Critérium des As ;1985 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Critérium International ::1st Stage 3 (

) : 1st

Overall Tour Midi-Pyrénées ::1st Stage 1a : Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ::1st Prologue & Stage 9 (

) : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 7b (

) : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 18a : 3rd Overall

: 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège : 4th

: 5th

Grand Prix Eddy Merckx Grand Prix Eddy Merckx was a cycle race around Brussels, where Eddy Merckx was born. It was held between 1980 and 2004, disappearing after the creation of the UCI ProTour in 2005. The race was initially an individual time trial, becoming a Team ti ...

: 7th Road race,

: 7th Overall

: 10th Overall

Tour of Ireland The Tour of Ireland (Irish: Turas na hÉireann, known from 1985 to 1992 as the Nissan Classic) was a bicycle stage race held in August, which ran for 35 editions over a 56-year period. Irish rider Seán Kelly recorded the most wins, four. Th ...

::1st Stages 3b & 4a ;1986 : 7th Trofeo Baracchi (with

) ;1987 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race,

: 1st

Overall

::1st Stages 2 ( TTT) & 10 (

) ::Held

after Stages 22 & 24 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Combination classification ::1st Stages 1b (

), 3 ( TTT) & 22 (

) ::Held

after Stages 4–6 : 1st Jersey green

Overall Tour de Romandie ::1st Stages 5a & 5b (

) : 1st

Overall

::1st Stage 4 (

) : 1st Overall

: 2nd Overall Critérium International : 2nd Overall

: 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège : 4th Overall

::1st Stages 1 ( TTT) & 7b (

) : 4th La Flèche Wallonne : 4th Rund um den Henninger-Turm : 5th

Trofeo Pantalica The Trofeo Pantalica was a professional road bicycle race held annually in Province of Syracuse, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the ...

;1988 : 6th Overall

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...

: 8th Overall

;1989 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Tour of the Basque Country ::1st Stage 5b (

) : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 7b (

) : 3rd Overall Critérium International : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 3a (

) : 9th Overall Giro d'Italia ;1990 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall

: 2nd Overall

: 5th Overall

: 6th Overall Tour of the Basque Country : 6th Overall Critérium International : 6th La Flèche Wallonne : 7th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ;1991 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Critérium International : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

: 4th Overall

: 7th Overall Tour of the Basque Country : 7th Grand Prix d'Isbergues : 8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège : 9th Subida a Urkiola ;1992 : 2nd

Gran Piemonte The Giro del Piemonte, since 2009 known also as Gran Piemonte, is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the Apennine Mountains, Italy. The race first took place in 1906. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI ...

: 5th Overall

: 6th Overall Tour of the Basque Country : 7th Overall Critérium International : 7th Overall

: 8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico : 9th Overall

::1st Stage 16 ;1993 : 9th Overall Giro d'Italia : 9th

Giro di Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will r ...

General classification results timeline

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Stephen RocheStephen Roche's Cycling Camp in MajorcaStephen Roche's Charity Cycling Race
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Stephen Irish male cyclists Tour de France winners Irish Tour de France stage winners Giro d'Italia winners Irish Giro d'Italia stage winners UCI Road World Champions (elite men) Rás Tailteann winners Olympic cyclists of Ireland Cyclists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Doping cases in cycling Sportspeople from County Dublin 1959 births Living people Cycling announcers Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Irish expatriates in France RTÉ Sports Person of the Year winners People from Dundrum, Dublin Super Prestige Pernod winners

Early life and amateur career

Professional career

Chronic knee injury

1987 Triple Crown

Post-1987 career

Doping

Personal life

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Career achievements

Major results

General classification results timeline

References

Further reading

External links