Fab Four the wheel deal

Paul Kimmage said he felt like a member of the Beatles when he lay down, drowned in a pool of his own sweat, on the kerb at the top of O’Connell Street, basking in the moment of helping secure the Nissan Classic for his Irish compatriot Sean Kelly in 1987.

The pair, along with Stephen Roche and Martin Earley, embraced one another and celebrated just as they had done when Roche won the World Championships a month earlier in Villach, Austria.

“I often wondered what it would’ve been like to be a member of the Beatles and that day in Dublin gave me some indication,” said Kimmage. “Kelly and Roche were rock stars anyway, but I actually felt like one and Martin was one that day too. That was a special moment, the four of us there on the street and the crowds congratulating us. You couldn’t buy a feeling like that.”