John James 'Sean' Kelly (born 24 May 1956) is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer, one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest Classics riders of all time.
He was born at Belleville Maternity Home in Waterford City on 24 May 1956.
He was named John James Kelly after his father and was referred to as "Sean" to avoid confusion at home.
Seán is the Irish form of John.
For eight years, he was educated, at Crehana National School, County Waterford, to which he travelled with his older brother Joe.
The journey from home in Curraghduff to Crehana School was approximately a-mile-and-a-half.
Together, both he and Sean cycled to and from school.
Joe later recollects: "I suppose we were like most young fellows at that age – walking was too dull."
Official records from his days at Crehana National School confirm Kelly's satisfactory attendance.
At school, he was exceedingly shy, unsure of himself and felt intellectually outclassed by other pupils in his class.
As a result, Kelly retreated into almost total silence.
His education ended aged only 13 when he left school to help on the farm at home after his father went to a hospital in Waterford with an ulcer.
At 16, he began work as a bricklayer.
1969
In September 1969, a delegation from the newly formed Carrick Wheelers Road Club visited the Christian Brothers Secondary School, where Joe was a student.
In Joe's classroom, the representatives from the cycling club encouraged the pupils to join a recently formed schoolboy cycling league.
Joe was fascinated.
He joined the schoolboy league, began winning races, and joined the Carrick Wheelers Road Club as a new member.
In the Kelly household, the pattern was for Joe to do something, and Sean would follow in his footsteps.
And so it was, from humble beginnings, Sean soon joined Joe.
1970
On Tuesday, 4 August 1970, aged 14, Sean competed in his first race at Kennedy Terrace, Carrickbeg, County Tipperary, part of Carrick-on-Suir.
The race was an eight-mile (12.87 km) handicap, which meant the weaker riders started first and the best last.
Kelly set off three minutes before the backmarkers, which included his brother Joe.
He was still three minutes ahead of the pursuers when the course turned for home after four miles (6.43 km) and more than three minutes in the lead when he crossed the finish line.
1972
In July 1972, aged 16, he won the National Junior Road Championships at Banbridge, County Down.
1973
Kelly won the National Junior Road Championships again in 1973.
1974
He took a senior cycling license in 1974, passing up the opportunity to bid for a third consecutive National Junior Road title.
In 1974, aged only 17, two months short of his eighteenth birthday, Kelly won the Shay Elliott Memorial Race.
That season he participated in the Tour of Ireland and the Tour of Scotland and achieved ten victories as a senior competitor while still eligible to race as a junior.
1975
In 1975, Kelly successfully defended his title, winning the Shay Elliott Memorial Race for the second time.
He won three stages of the 1975 Tour of Ireland and the mountains jersey.
Kelly won stage 7 of the 1975 Tour of Britain, beating Swede Bernt Johansson and Polish rider Jan Trybala in a three-way sprint.
Johansson became Olympic Road Race Champion in Montreal a year later.
1977
From becoming a professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won 193 professional races, including nine Monument Classics, Paris–Nice a record seven years consecutively and the first UCI Road World Cup in 1989.
1982
Kelly twice won bronze medals (1982, 1989) in the Road World Championships Elite Men's Road Race and finished fifth in 1987, the year compatriot Stephen Roche won gold.
1984
When the FICP rankings became established in March 1984, Kelly was the first cyclist to be ranked World No.1, a position he held for a record five consecutive years.
In the 1984 season, Kelly achieved 33 victories.
Kelly is the second son of Jack (John) and Nellie Kelly, a farming family in Curraghduff, County Waterford.
1988
Kelly won one Grand Tour, the 1988 Vuelta a España, and four green jerseys in the Tour de France.
He achieved multiple victories in the Giro di Lombardia, Milan–San Remo, Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, as well as three runners-up placings in the only Monument he failed to win, the Tour of Flanders.
Other victories include the Grand Prix des Nations and stage races, the Critérium International, Tour de Suisse, Tour of the Basque Country and Volta a Catalunya.
