Amazing listening to Phil liggett's commentary how many times he says Roche is working for Kelly not thinking that Stephen had a chance to win the best thing about this race is seeing Sean raise his arms when he realises Roche has won it is like he has won himself.
I always loved the camera angle for Roche's attack - we can see it coming, see the gap on the left being squeezed but Roche going for it, Winterburg starting to follow then giving up the chase, etc. God bless that cameraman!
The magical year it was for Roche & then the curse of the rainbow jersey thereafter. Having surgery in the offseason for his injured knee & the complications from it that slowed his recovery impacted the following season dramatically. The pressures to perform from his new contract only compounded the problem. And it would take years before he found the same form again.
I'm fairly certain at 7:14 Roche was going to make a move on the right but changed his mind at the last second. And that gap on the inside was almost closed during his attack, took a massive gamble to get through that gap. Such a good finish.
Yeah it looks like that but if you zoom in he doesn't... I honestly wouldn't worry about it, he looks to me like he was going for an earlier attack.. Have a good day though.
I love Phil Ligget but the constant “first English-speaking rider” BS from the UK media at the time really ground my gears. I remember being in Croke Park when this was announced during the All-Ireland hurling final between Galway and Kilkenny.
"the only english speaking rider to win the Tour of Italy"... Trying to steal our heroes again England :-) He also speaks Irish. " The only irish speaking rider to win the tour of Italy"
Is it me, or did everyone in the breakaway just let Roche ride to victory. At 300m to go, none of the group put a chase on they just looked at each other, mean while Roche was riding to the line. The pack don't start to sprint for another 15 seconds, by which time Roche was well clear. Looks more than a bit suspicious....
That's the nature of the game mate. Whoever would have chased first would inevitably have lost so everyone just looked at each other. It's a classic move and was timed to perfection. Moreno who got second, had come through from the second group. The lead group all blew it.
Onviously you don't race. For the first group, none of them have any teammate with them. What you usually think during the finals meters is, 'who ever chases first, loses the race'. Bec everyone will use all your strength sucking your wheel and will jump away once you start to fade away.
They were waiting for Kelly to go, because everyone thought Roche was set setting up the race for Kelly and then stopped chasing and let Roche go, and by the time they realised that Kelly wasn't gonna chase Roche, it was to late, classic the way they worked for one another
