I've been watching old videos of some of Sean Kellys early Classic wins. He really was some rider. It's hard to imagine one of todays specialists being able to win any combination of San Remo, Roubaix, Lombardy and Liege, especially in the same season.
His domination of Paris-Roubaix 1984 was truly phenomenal.
For no reason, other than I'm sitting here morphing back into the teenage fan I was back then, I decided to find pics of his classic wins and post them for your (and my) enjoyment. I managed to find all except Liege-Bastogne-Liege 1989, so if you know of a good pic of that, post a link below.
 |
Probably my favourite cycling pic of all time. Kelly outsprints Van Der Poel,
Lemond and Kuiper to win his first classic at the Tour Of Lombardy 1983 |
 |
Kelly dominates the 1984 Hell of the North, Paris Roubaix, towing Rudy Rogiers
to the velodrome before easily out-sprinting him. |
 |
Just weeks later, Kelly out-sprinted Anderson (obscured) and Lemond
to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege 1984 |
 |
| He finished 1984 with a win in Blois-Chaville (now Paris-Tours) |
 |
1985 was a leaner year but he still out-sprinted the rest to win
the Tour of Lombardy on the track at Milan. |
 |
| 1986 started well when Kelly won his first Primavera, Milan-San Remo |
 |
It got even better when he added Paris Roubaix, finishing away from the
velodrome for the first time in years. |
After a couple of lean years Kelly regained his form and took La Doyenne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege again in 1989.
 |
It was another two years before he easily sprinted Martial Gayant for the
1991 Tour of Lombardy |
 |
The third best Classics record of all time was capped off with another
Milan-San Remo, ahead of his old rival Argentin, in 1992 |
