Sean Kelly Team planning success from Belgian base

SEAN KELLY and Stephen Roche enthralled us year after year with their endeavours in the 1980s but Irish cycling has been more accustomed to bringing up the rear of the peloton since that halcyon era.

It will come as no surprise then to hear that the Carrick-on-Suir legend is spearheading a bid to re-cultivate some success with the launch yesterday of the Sean Kelly Team, an Irish outfit that will be based in Belgium.

The road ahead promises to be a long one. When Mark Scanlon was selected by his Ag2R Proyance team to compete in the 2004 Tour de France he was the eighth Irishman to do so but, more significantly, he was the first since Roche’s last Tour eleven years earlier.