29 Facts About Stephen Roche

Stephen Roche is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist.

All of these wins still stand, despite Stephen Roche having been accused by an Italian judge of taking EPO in the later part of his career.

On completion of his apprenticeship as a machinist in a Dublin dairy and following a successful amateur career in Ireland with the "Orwell Wheelers" club coached by Noel O'Neill of Dundrum, Stephen Roche joined the Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt amateur team in Paris to prepare for the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow.

Stephen Roche was told by his directeur sportif that if he did not win he "would be sent home to Ireland that day".

Stephen Roche scored his first professional victory by beating Bernard Hinault in the Tour of Corsica.

Stephen Roche finished 25th in that year's Tour de France.

In 1986 at a six-day event with UK professional Tony Doyle at Paris-Bercy, Stephen Roche crashed at speed and damaged his right knee.

Stephen Roche finished the 1986 Tour de France 48th, 1h 32m behind Greg LeMond, a Tour that Stephen Roche described as like "entering a dark tunnel" of pain.

Stephen Roche blamed it on tactical naivete and "riding like an amateur".

Stephen Roche finished the Giro exhausted but favourite for the Tour de France.

On stage 21, crossing the Galibier and Madeleine and finishing at La Plagne, Stephen Roche attacked early, was away for several hours but was caught on the last climb.

Stephen Roche became only the fifth cyclist in history to win the Tour and the Giro in the same year.

Stephen Roche was the only Irishman to win the Tour de France.

Later that year, with victory at the World road race championship in Villach in Austria, Stephen Roche became only the second to win the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Stephen Roche was given the freedom of Dublin in late September 1987.

Several days later the 1987 edition of the Nissan Classic began and Stephen Roche rode strongly to finish second behind Kelly.

At the close of 1987, Stephen Roche moved to Fagor MBK, bringing English riders Sean Yates and Malcolm Elliot, 1984 Tour de France King of the Mountains winner Robert Millar and domestique Eddy Schepers.

The 1988 season began badly with a recurrence of the knee injury and Stephen Roche began a gradual decline.

Stephen Roche finished the 1989 Giro d'Italia ninth behind Laurent Fignon.

Stephen Roche retired at the end of an anonymous 1993 which yielded a single win, in the post-Tour de France criterium at Chateau Chinon.

Files from part of the investigation allegedly detail a number of aliases for Stephen Roche including Rocchi, Rossi, Rocca, Roncati, Righi and Rossini.

In 2004 Judge Oliva again alleged that Stephen Roche had taken EPO during 1993 but due to the statute of limitations, neither Stephen Roche nor his teammates at Carrera would be prosecuted.

Stephen Roche remained involved in the sport by founding cycling camps in Majorca, by taking part in race organisations and working as a commentator on cycling events for Eurosport.

Stephen Roche has four children with his former wife Lydia; the couple divorced in 2004.

One son, Nicolas Stephen Roche, was a professional until his retirement in 2021, and was the 2009 and 2016 Irish National Road Race Champion.

Stephen's brother Lawrence Roche was a professional cyclist who completed his only Tour de France in 1991.

Stephen Roche's nephew Dan Martin was a professional cyclist and was the 2008 Irish National Road Race Champion.

Stephen Roche completed the 2008 New York Marathon in a time of 4:21:09.

Stephen Roche featured in a well-known Irish television advert for Galtee cheese in 1987, shortly after winning the Tour de France.