Stephen Roche and Paul Kimmage

happytramp

I recently finished Paul Kimmage's 'A rough ride' and was looking for a bit of an update. The edition I read had a forward from 1997 in which he stated he was still not on speaking terms with Stephen Roche. I have to say I felt very sorry for him given the absolute level of hero worship leveled at Roche in the book. He clearly worshiped the guy and as far as I recall didn't really defame him in any way (I could be wrong here). Given everything that's happened since that forward was written, I'm wondering has the view of Kimmage's book within the sport changed over the years and have he and Stephen Roche ever made up?

thebouldwhacker

Good interview here, doesn't sound like they'll be spinning together any time soon.

Thu, 03/12/2009

AS: Did Roche and Kelly ever reconcile with you?
PK: No. I get along ok with Sean, but I don't have a very good relationship with Stephen. Not at all.
AS: That's terrible.
PK: It is sad, but that's life, isn't' it? We make choices, and we live by those choices. I made a choice, Stephen's made a choice, and he's got to live with the consequences of his choice and I have to live with the consequences of mine. I'm comfortable with what I did, and I'm sure he's comfortable with what he did. But unfortunately that doesn't mean we're going to speak to each other again.
AS: There was not one unkind word about him in your book.
PK: Well, I did try to explain that to his father at the time, but unfortunately it didn't register. Again, when I hear him on TV now talking about doping in cycling, how it's a new phenomenon, something that just came around in the 90's when he was retired, I think it's a little disingenuous of him. Yeah, we're not going to be friends again, that's for sure.
AS: It really brings home the idea of 'spitting in the soup'. You can say nothing but nice things about someone, but if you do that one thing (speak about doping), then it's over.
PK: Yeah, that's it. And obviously I was very aware that when Rough Ride was published it would make life difficult for both of them, because of the implications of what I was saying. But I couldn't allow myself to not do it for that reason. I had to accept my responsibilities to the sport, and they have to accept theirs. That was the bottom line. If our friendships were going to fall on that, as it did, then that was too bad. That was too bad.
The reason I've got a good relationship with Sean is that, the only thing I expected from Sean after Rough Ride was published was ironically enough, silence. That was the best I expected from him. And he gave me that. He wasn't critical of me in any way in the media. At a time when he could've made life very difficult for me, he didn't. His response was the exact opposite of Stephen's, he made life extremelly difficult for me. That was the difference in our relationships.

Slideshowbob

What has an interview with Andy Schleck and Pat Kenny got to do with anything?

thebouldwhacker

Not sure, but I think Schleck called Kenny a Dope and then spat in his soup.....