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The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling's Golden Generation
In the 1980s two young men from Ireland rose from obscure beginnings to dominate professional cycling: Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche. Kelly was quiet, consistent and famously resilient - the dominant classic rider of his era. Roche, by contrast, was a charismatic and mercurial presence, whose unruly talent would carry him to the Triple Crown in 1987 - victories at the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and World Championships - a feat unmatched since. But behind the races there lies a bigger drama: an untold story of influences shared, friendships made and broken, and conflict with cycling's old guard. Based on new and exclusive interviews with Kelly and Roche themselves, as well their teammates, rivals and confidantes, this is the inspiring story of how a generation of Irish cyclists took on the world and won. Color plates. "The cultural and prejudicial hurdles that Messrs. Kelly and Roche surmounted required a confidence and commitment most of us only dream of. This book particularly drew me in as I know many of its characters and experienced the frenetic style of Irish racing as a member of the U.S. team at the 1981 Tour of Ireland, where our director was none other than Kieron McQuaid."--WSJ
388 pages, Paperback
Published August 28, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 22, 2017
Outstanding account of Ireland and its influence on cycling.
The key part of the book is effectively twin biographies of Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche – the book draws heavily on already published biographies and autobiographies of the two stars but with a critical eye
Firstly by presenting alternate views on some of the well-known stories (or at the least questioning how much is truth and how much is myth), for example
Or of the fact that the seemingly true story of Visentini sawing up his bike and handing it to Boifava after the stacked-for-Moser 1984 Giro, now gets attributed to the Roche-Sapadda 1987 Giro, including by Visentini himself “Some stories are so good that they bear repurposing
Secondly by not whitewashing either, in both their cases doping (so for example reproducing three stories in Voet’s Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling: The True Story but with names added) or Kelly’s trading of classics or Roche’s ability to end up in major contractual disputes.
The book also paints a wider context, firstly in terms of rider (including not just Martin Earley and Paul Kimmage, but also Alan McCormack) but also in terms of other influential figures, particularly David Walsh and Pat McQuaid and Kimmage as journalist, and their changing relationships with Kelly/Roche. The tone here is set from the opening chapter which uses the 1972 Olympics to view the split between the different Irish cycling federations.
Overall possibly the best cycling book I have read.
The key part of the book is effectively twin biographies of Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche – the book draws heavily on already published biographies and autobiographies of the two stars but with a critical eye
Firstly by presenting alternate views on some of the well-known stories (or at the least questioning how much is truth and how much is myth), for example
It is perhaps fortunate that a series of mechanical mishaps ruined Sean Kelly’s chance at the 1975 Tour of Ireland. It meant that while Pat McQuaid’s overall victory was consigned soberly to the record books, descriptions of Kelly’s exploits that week have taken shape in the more fluid confines of folklore
Conjure up a scene from cycling’s golden age of the 1950s and 1960s and Raphael Geminani will inevitably be somewhere within that sepia-tinted picture. In an era when fact and fiction ovelappped, Geminani always seemed to be part of the story or better still, telling it, true or exaggerated.
Or of the fact that the seemingly true story of Visentini sawing up his bike and handing it to Boifava after the stacked-for-Moser 1984 Giro, now gets attributed to the Roche-Sapadda 1987 Giro, including by Visentini himself “Some stories are so good that they bear repurposing
Secondly by not whitewashing either, in both their cases doping (so for example reproducing three stories in Voet’s Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling: The True Story but with names added) or Kelly’s trading of classics or Roche’s ability to end up in major contractual disputes.
The book also paints a wider context, firstly in terms of rider (including not just Martin Earley and Paul Kimmage, but also Alan McCormack) but also in terms of other influential figures, particularly David Walsh and Pat McQuaid and Kimmage as journalist, and their changing relationships with Kelly/Roche. The tone here is set from the opening chapter which uses the 1972 Olympics to view the split between the different Irish cycling federations.
Overall possibly the best cycling book I have read.
November 23, 2017
Quite good although probably too detailed to interest anyone except for cycle racing aficionados. Also quite sad in a way as it charts the surprising prominence of Irish cycling in the 1980s through the careers of Kelly and Roche - two contrasting characters too. Although the races are foregrounded the real story is of the deals and the doping. The politics of Irish cycling or the UCI are not of much interest. And what to do about drugs remains unsolvable. The second half of this is really about the Irish rider Paul Kimmage's expose of the doping culture, which is pervasive. Nothing ever changes and at this point, having followed cycle racing since 1968 and recognizing how tainted the sport is, I'd have to say, just legalize them. The sport is just too hard....the money is terrible and you have to race nonstop to make a living so there is a vicious cycle of incentive to dope.
May 18, 2019
Excellently written, this is a brilliant account of a true golden age in Irish sport without merely cheerleading Roche and Kelly. It puts their success into context while talking the doping question.
January 3, 2018
“The Ascent” tells the story of how Ireland dominated the world of cycling during the 1980s, with Irish cycling superstars Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly between them winning every race or tour worth winning. The author and veteran cycling journalist Barry Ryan outlines how such was Roche and Kelly’s ascendancy that, at one point in 1988, between them the two Irish superstars were the holders of Cycling’s three grand tours, the World Championship, and the position of Cycling’s world number one. “The Ascent” reveals how Roche and Kelly arose from obscurity to become two of Ireland’s most successful ever sportspeople – and looks at the murky side of that success.
Sean Kelly emerges as the most compelling character in “The Ascent”, with the author Barry Ryan characterising him as having “the bearing of the silent hero of a western”, whose decade-and-a half long imperial period in international cycling was due to how “(he) could climb better than anyone who could sprint faster, and could sprint faster than anyone who could climb faster”.
Kelly’s monosyllabic, hard man demeanour concealed a rapaciousness for cash, to the extent that he was prepared to ‘throw’ races if the price was right. Ryan believes this narrow focus on money ahead of glory might have hindered the pinnacles Kelly would scale during his career, that by preferring to concentrate on big money one-off races rather than grand tours like the Tour de France, he missed out on the chance to etch his name alongside those of all-time Tour greats like Merckx, Hinault or, indeed, Stephen Roche.
Roche, by contrast, comes across as a much more difficult and unctuous character in the pages of “The Ascent”. The author Barry Ryan sees Stephen Roche as a more natural cycling talent but with an attendant confidence bordering on cockiness (“endowed with an innocent kind of arrogance which suggests he simply assumes he will one day be a champion”).
If “The Ascent” was merely an analysis of the golden age of Irish cycling, it would be worthwhile but incomplete, so thankfully it casts a light on the dark side of that era. Commendably, Ryan doesn’t try to soft soap or prevaricate on the doping allegations that have cast a pall over the careers of both Kelly and Roche (allegations which went completely unaddressed in their recent autobiographies).
Ryan casts a sceptical eye over Roche’s late career renaissance, twice finishing in the top 15 of the Tour de France in ‘92 & ‘93 when only a year beforehand his cycling career appeared completely washed up. “The Ascent” contains meticulous background research on how Stephen Roche’s name appeared in the files of an Italian police raid into the use of EPO in the early 1990s.
Neither does the author flinch from discussing Sean Kelly’s relationship with the disgraced EPO-smuggler Willy Voet (the ‘masseur’ whose arrest caused the exposure of the Festina scandal in 1998 from which the sport of cycling has arguably never recovered). Kelly’s reputation is tarnished further by Ryan’s revelation that, while Kelly was starting his pro career in the late 1970s, he broke the international sporting community’s boycott against South Africa and competed in the apartheid state under an assumed name.
Among the highlights of “The Ascent” are a riveting account of how Roche ruthlessly shafted his team leader Roberto Visentini to claim the 1987 Giro d’Italia. Ryan also opens “The Ascent” with an engrossing - if bizarre - story from the 1972 Munich Olympics where an internecine, long-running dispute between two rival Irish cycling federations led to one faction trying to infiltrate the other during the Olympic roadrace, ending in a fistfight between the two Irish cliques.
Both Kelly and Roche are interviewed extensively over the course of “The Ascent”, but some of the most illuminating insights sourced by Barry Ryan come from the more background characters, like the discredited former-UCI chief Pat McQuaid and the cycling whistleblower-turned-crusading journalist Paul Kimmage. In particular, the interview with Kimmage provides the most candid and enthralling chapter of the book, where he suggests that it was envy at watching his former teammate Stephen Roche win the Tour de France that may have influenced him to start doping. Paul Kimmage provides “The Ascent with most of it’s most quotable passages, such as his realisation that the peleton was riddled from top-to-bottom with doping: “This is the business. This is your job. If you weren’t doing cortisone in ‘86, you weren’t doing le metier. This was part of your fucking job”.
This is a book written with panache, wit and passion, where Barry Ryan never allows his palpable admiration for Kelly and Roche to obscure the murky underbelly of their achievements – or the corrupt, amoral nature of professional cycling in general. Make no mistake, “The Ascent” is by no means of interest only to cycling obsessives, and even the most casual sports fan will find this account of the Kelly-Roche friendship/rivalry endlessly fascinating.
“The Ascent” is, by a distance, the best book ever written about the history of Irish cycling, and from a crowded field one of the best cycling books published over the last decade. Hugely recommended.
Sean Kelly emerges as the most compelling character in “The Ascent”, with the author Barry Ryan characterising him as having “the bearing of the silent hero of a western”, whose decade-and-a half long imperial period in international cycling was due to how “(he) could climb better than anyone who could sprint faster, and could sprint faster than anyone who could climb faster”.
Kelly’s monosyllabic, hard man demeanour concealed a rapaciousness for cash, to the extent that he was prepared to ‘throw’ races if the price was right. Ryan believes this narrow focus on money ahead of glory might have hindered the pinnacles Kelly would scale during his career, that by preferring to concentrate on big money one-off races rather than grand tours like the Tour de France, he missed out on the chance to etch his name alongside those of all-time Tour greats like Merckx, Hinault or, indeed, Stephen Roche.
Roche, by contrast, comes across as a much more difficult and unctuous character in the pages of “The Ascent”. The author Barry Ryan sees Stephen Roche as a more natural cycling talent but with an attendant confidence bordering on cockiness (“endowed with an innocent kind of arrogance which suggests he simply assumes he will one day be a champion”).
If “The Ascent” was merely an analysis of the golden age of Irish cycling, it would be worthwhile but incomplete, so thankfully it casts a light on the dark side of that era. Commendably, Ryan doesn’t try to soft soap or prevaricate on the doping allegations that have cast a pall over the careers of both Kelly and Roche (allegations which went completely unaddressed in their recent autobiographies).
Ryan casts a sceptical eye over Roche’s late career renaissance, twice finishing in the top 15 of the Tour de France in ‘92 & ‘93 when only a year beforehand his cycling career appeared completely washed up. “The Ascent” contains meticulous background research on how Stephen Roche’s name appeared in the files of an Italian police raid into the use of EPO in the early 1990s.
Neither does the author flinch from discussing Sean Kelly’s relationship with the disgraced EPO-smuggler Willy Voet (the ‘masseur’ whose arrest caused the exposure of the Festina scandal in 1998 from which the sport of cycling has arguably never recovered). Kelly’s reputation is tarnished further by Ryan’s revelation that, while Kelly was starting his pro career in the late 1970s, he broke the international sporting community’s boycott against South Africa and competed in the apartheid state under an assumed name.
Among the highlights of “The Ascent” are a riveting account of how Roche ruthlessly shafted his team leader Roberto Visentini to claim the 1987 Giro d’Italia. Ryan also opens “The Ascent” with an engrossing - if bizarre - story from the 1972 Munich Olympics where an internecine, long-running dispute between two rival Irish cycling federations led to one faction trying to infiltrate the other during the Olympic roadrace, ending in a fistfight between the two Irish cliques.
Both Kelly and Roche are interviewed extensively over the course of “The Ascent”, but some of the most illuminating insights sourced by Barry Ryan come from the more background characters, like the discredited former-UCI chief Pat McQuaid and the cycling whistleblower-turned-crusading journalist Paul Kimmage. In particular, the interview with Kimmage provides the most candid and enthralling chapter of the book, where he suggests that it was envy at watching his former teammate Stephen Roche win the Tour de France that may have influenced him to start doping. Paul Kimmage provides “The Ascent with most of it’s most quotable passages, such as his realisation that the peleton was riddled from top-to-bottom with doping: “This is the business. This is your job. If you weren’t doing cortisone in ‘86, you weren’t doing le metier. This was part of your fucking job”.
This is a book written with panache, wit and passion, where Barry Ryan never allows his palpable admiration for Kelly and Roche to obscure the murky underbelly of their achievements – or the corrupt, amoral nature of professional cycling in general. Make no mistake, “The Ascent” is by no means of interest only to cycling obsessives, and even the most casual sports fan will find this account of the Kelly-Roche friendship/rivalry endlessly fascinating.
“The Ascent” is, by a distance, the best book ever written about the history of Irish cycling, and from a crowded field one of the best cycling books published over the last decade. Hugely recommended.
June 11, 2022
Barry Ryanin "The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling's Golden Generation" (Gill Books, 2018) on onnistunut läpileikkaus niistä noin kymmenestä vuodesta, jolloin irlantilaiset pyöräilijät Sean Kellyn ja Stephen Rochen johdolla voittivat melkein kaiken mahdollisen. Vuonna 1987 Roche onnistui voittamaan sekä Tourin, maailmanmestaruuden että Giron, kun taas Kelly kunnostautui klassikoiden parissa olemalla ykkönen mm. Pariisi - Nizza -ajossa seitsemänä peräkkäisenä vuonna.
Synkempiä ja tylsempiä sävyjä kirjaan tarjoaa iänikuinen kysymys dopingista. Lienee enemmän kuin todennäköistä, että sekä Roche että Kelly ajoivat urallaan erilaisten kiellettyjen aineiden voimin.
Synkempiä ja tylsempiä sävyjä kirjaan tarjoaa iänikuinen kysymys dopingista. Lienee enemmän kuin todennäköistä, että sekä Roche että Kelly ajoivat urallaan erilaisten kiellettyjen aineiden voimin.
December 21, 2017
To the millennial cyclist (and metal fan), the reputation and lore of Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche can feel a bit like Metallica. You know they're a big deal and they changed the genre's landscape, but in your life, they've only ever been part of the background, a cultural reference point to be sure but not one appreciated by you.
In this parable, The Ascent is like The Greatest Hits and unauthorised biography rolled into one. The rise, decline and achievements of these Irish greats are chronicaled as you would expect, but what really sticks with you is the context of their ascent, and an appreciation not only of their palmares, but of what a special and unlikely time in Irish cycling this was.
If you were an avid cycling fan at the time - been there, rode that, have the Peugeot jersey - this book may not rock your socks off with new findings or revelations, but it is a warm and affectionate telling of the events, one in which the pages pass easily. While races and victories are broken down and described, e are spared the play by play dissection of each and every race which makes so many cycling books unreadable (to this reviewer!)
Another common pratfall of sporting biographies is avoided - this is no fawning fanboy semifiction. The discussion is fair and balanced, but does not make excuses when the lads are engaged in eyebrow raising behavior. The doping issue is addressed frankly and matter of fact, with judgement left to the reader. And most evenhanded of all, the more minor stars of the era - Earley, Kimmage, McQuaid to name a few - get their fair dues. To this ignorant reviewer, learning about these new-to-me rockstars of the era was perhaps what I enjoyed the most. Like all the best gig reviews, it makes you want to be there.
In summary, I would recommend this book as a excellent primer in the history of Irish cycling to young and old alike. If you're looking for your 20 page race analyses, look elsewhere, but if you want to get a feel for the craic and the bants of the 80s and 90s, Mr.Ryan will sort you out.
In this parable, The Ascent is like The Greatest Hits and unauthorised biography rolled into one. The rise, decline and achievements of these Irish greats are chronicaled as you would expect, but what really sticks with you is the context of their ascent, and an appreciation not only of their palmares, but of what a special and unlikely time in Irish cycling this was.
If you were an avid cycling fan at the time - been there, rode that, have the Peugeot jersey - this book may not rock your socks off with new findings or revelations, but it is a warm and affectionate telling of the events, one in which the pages pass easily. While races and victories are broken down and described, e are spared the play by play dissection of each and every race which makes so many cycling books unreadable (to this reviewer!)
Another common pratfall of sporting biographies is avoided - this is no fawning fanboy semifiction. The discussion is fair and balanced, but does not make excuses when the lads are engaged in eyebrow raising behavior. The doping issue is addressed frankly and matter of fact, with judgement left to the reader. And most evenhanded of all, the more minor stars of the era - Earley, Kimmage, McQuaid to name a few - get their fair dues. To this ignorant reviewer, learning about these new-to-me rockstars of the era was perhaps what I enjoyed the most. Like all the best gig reviews, it makes you want to be there.
In summary, I would recommend this book as a excellent primer in the history of Irish cycling to young and old alike. If you're looking for your 20 page race analyses, look elsewhere, but if you want to get a feel for the craic and the bants of the 80s and 90s, Mr.Ryan will sort you out.
November 1, 2017
Enjoyable story of Irish cyclings strong decade of the 1980s. Most of the skeletons remain in the closet though. No one admits to doping. The culture won't change with the attitude of 'deny til you die'
March 21, 2018
Sean Kelly was one of my favorite riders back in the day. The book was interesting but not enough to keep me up late reading. Took me a while to finish. If you're a fan of Kelly, Roche or cycling history it's worth reading.
August 28, 2024
I loved it! I'm not really into cycling at all but I imagine if I was, I'd be giving it a five star.
Remarkable story. Hard to imagine two Irish athletes being at the very pinnacle of a global sport, then having two Irish journalists being to the fore of investigations into the sport, all while the president of the governing body is also Irish!
I found the start of the book a little bit tough as it goes into the micros of Irish cycling's history and admin, but it's a necessary scene-setter for the fantastic ascent of Kelly & Roche. There's so much drama, plenty of back stabbings, and it shines a light on the outrageous doping culture in the sport.
Loved reading all of the Kimmage quotes!
Remarkable story. Hard to imagine two Irish athletes being at the very pinnacle of a global sport, then having two Irish journalists being to the fore of investigations into the sport, all while the president of the governing body is also Irish!
I found the start of the book a little bit tough as it goes into the micros of Irish cycling's history and admin, but it's a necessary scene-setter for the fantastic ascent of Kelly & Roche. There's so much drama, plenty of back stabbings, and it shines a light on the outrageous doping culture in the sport.
Loved reading all of the Kimmage quotes!
May 25, 2019
To the cycling insider, that is fan of the athletes and pro events, this book is five stars. It's well researched, well written and detailed.
However, to a cycling outsider, like myself, this book is a little dry. Perhaps my expectations are too blame, but I had hoped to spark my interest in cycling and my motivation for training. But neither happened.
I did enjoy this upstart story and am glad to have read it. But the lack of excitement means it fell flat.
However, to a cycling outsider, like myself, this book is a little dry. Perhaps my expectations are too blame, but I had hoped to spark my interest in cycling and my motivation for training. But neither happened.
I did enjoy this upstart story and am glad to have read it. But the lack of excitement means it fell flat.
August 18, 2021
A great read, highly recommend it. Detailed but kept my interest throughout & gave a very good account of Irish cycling's amazing rise, including all main players. And Barry Ryan doesn't shy away from the doping question,which an Irish author easily could have done.
January 13, 2018
10/10 full of personal stories and truths
10/10 full of personal stories and truths, a great read for anyone with an interest in cycling. get it now
10/10 full of personal stories and truths, a great read for anyone with an interest in cycling. get it now
January 18, 2019
Brilliant in-depth breakdown of Irish cycling, suitable for both cycling and non-cycling fans alike.
November 10, 2021
Great topic, great era, great book
September 26, 2020
I grew up in the golden era of Irish cycling so this book was a great interest to me. Well written and a great read, i couldn't put it down to be honest. An insight in the politics of cycling and of course the darker side of the sport, doping. Were Kelly and Roche heavily involved in it, a question that i dont think has been fully answered or maybe Irish sport doesnt want it answered!
If you have any interest in cycling i would recommend this book.
If you have any interest in cycling i would recommend this book.
December 10, 2020
I thought this started very good but I do think half way through, it started to drag. i think there was too much focus on the Tour de France and trying to make conflict instead of the beautiful moments of the sport, the classics were but a footnote in this.
I think contrary to another review, it is more a book for irish sports fans than for cycling fans.
I think contrary to another review, it is more a book for irish sports fans than for cycling fans.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews