Sean Kelly and Sam Bennett – 2 of just 38
Imagine for a moment, a young soccer fan putting on their kit and heading out onto a pitch for a training session with Ronaldo and Pele.
A golfer playing 18 holes with Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy.
Or a musician walking out on stage with Bruce Springsteen and Ed Sheeran.
If you are a cycling fan living in Carrick on Suir or Clonmel sometimes you don’t need to imagine, you get to experience for real cycling alongside one of the most successful cyclists of all time, Sean Kelly, and the current fastest sprinter in the World, Sam Bennett. Both have won the green points jersey in the Tour de France and both have spent much of their training time on roads between Carrick, Clonmel and Dungarvan.
For almost 40 years now, every Sunday of the year, a cycling group has gathered outside what was the old ESB office in Carrick on Suir, now the Super Valu car park. The spin has always been consistently hard. Hard enough to give the Worlds best a good workout and hard enough to create a group of local riders that would be capable of being successful at all levels of domestic racing. It is a cycling group made up of members of a number of different clubs and some who are members of no club at all.
However, the group is not all about racing. The group is about cyclists of many different levels building fitness and enjoying their Sunday mornings amongst a bunch of friends.
Last Sunday was a pretty normal Sunday in Carrick on Suir but in any other town or village in the World where a cycling group gathered to set off on their weekend training spin it would have been considered unique, extraordinary, a once in a lifetime experience. In Belgium, France or Italy, the Worlds top professional cyclists tend to train with their peers, or alone. They rarely if ever train with a group of locals some of whom may only be cycling for a few months.
The biggest cycling race in the World is the Tour de France. The green jersey awarded to the points competition winner, who is the most consistent finisher on each stage of the three week race is the most coveted jersey for the Worlds fastest sprinters. It was first awarded in 1953 and with some such as Sean Kelly winning it on a number of occasions there are only 38 people in the history of the World who have won that green jersey. To have two of those winners coming from a small Irish town with a population of 5,771 is incomprehensible.
Last Sunday morning, just as they have done many times in the past Sean and Sam rocked on for the Carrick Sunday spin.
There was one big difference with this particular spin however, which created an electric atmosphere. Due to covid restrictions, and Sam being based in Monaco for much of the year, this was the first time that both Sean and Sam turned up together on the same day as Tour de France green jersey winners.
Leslie O’Donnell, fresh from putting on the cooked chickens inside Super Value that morning gave a great impromtu speech to mark the significance of the occasion.
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Cycling groups can be like one big family and family is a big aspect of this group. Sean’s brother Vinny was there as usual, as was Sam’s dad Mick. John Kinsella was there with his son Tom and daughter Amy. Patrick O’Louglin and his cousin Darragh Whelan were well able to keep Sam company as others began to tire. Youngest of all was 15 year old Daniel Roberts whose father Graham joined him. Soccer star Lee Grace who was in the same class as Sam in school turned up with his uncle and Godfather, Keith Barry.
Sam and Tara are about to expand the Bennett family any day now, so Sam was able to get some advice on nappies and bottles from new Daddy, Tom O’C.
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There was also a really nice moment before we set off when Sam’s grandmother Sylvia came over to say hello to Sean, her grandson Sam and her own son Mick. She was out for a walk with Sam’s aunt Jean who was just home on a visit from America.
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Sean and Sam led the group out of Carrick heading towards Clonmel as it has done for the past 40 years. On the road the Clonmel contingent turned and joined in as usual and the group swelled even more with Fitzy and Butler gliding through the roundabouts.
After Clonmel some turned off as the pace picked up. Sam stayed on the front with everyone else rotating, getting a chance to chat to himself and Sean. Out through Ballymac the pace increased some more and a few additional bodies began to disappear although Conor Hennebry seemed happy riding at Sams speed.
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Through Dungarvan and over the Pike the group was diminishing again when I looked up to see who was on the front with Sam only to find his dad Mick driving it on into a block headwind.
Passing by Leamybrien the pace eased slightly. Leslie and Lenny Foley seemed relieved with the opportunity to catch a breath.
The calm didn’t last for long as Sam was still ramping it up at the front. By the time we got back to Carrick, Garmins were reading over 33kph average speed for the tough 100km. That however didn’t take much out of Sam as he unleashed his savage kick approaching Carrick. Someone always goes at that point on the run in but not at that speed.
Crossing the bridge in Carrick we stopped at the red traffic light and when I looked to my right I was once again reminded of just how unique a moment in time it was to have two Tour de France green jerseys from the same small town out on the Carrick spin.
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