Cycling 3 April, 1982
King Kelly takes his throne; pocket rocket Joughin
It’s perhaps this issue that signals the rapid upward trajectory of Sean Kelly’s career the most. He’d won stages of the Tour de France, and finished on the podium of several classics by now, but as his first major GC win, this year’s Paris-nice ushered in the era of King Kelly. In a somewhat rambling report, Denis Donovan goes through the race in detail, stage by stage, despite all the excitement coming on the final day. Kelly started the stage 7b time trial up the Col d’eze five seconds down on
Frenchman Gilbert Ducloslassalle and was given little chance of winning. But ‘looking sharper than we have ever seen him,’ Kelly comfortably overturned the time gap on the 10km climb.
Instead of waxing lyrical about the first of his seven consecutive Paris-nice wins, Kelly was quoted on his gearing choice. “I used my second bike with its 44 and 45 rings, and 13 to 18 block. I was in 44-16 at the start and changed gear a lot.” Although the climb only maxes out at 10.4 per cent, a cassette that only goes up to 18 is enough to make your eyes water.
Donovan then travelled on to Milansan Remo, but you sense there was less of a story to tell with the surprise win for Frenchman Marc Gomez.
Elsewhere, a 21-year-old Laurent Fignon was being hailed as the country’s next star as he took his first win in his first season as a professional at the Critèrium International. Despite the race’s early date and uncommon two-day, three-stage format, its list of previous winners is a who’s who of grand tour contenders.
But the magazine opened with the Isle of Man’s pocket rocket Steve Joughin. ‘Joughin rockets in’ read the headline after he won the Becontree Wheelers Essex Trophy in the colours of 80s superclub Manchester Wheelers. A prolific winner, Cycling’s headline writers no doubt had to use his nickname sparingly. The previous week, they’d opened the mag with the more conservative “Joughin wins again in the Essex GP”.