ROCK OF THE SUIR

For those of us who follow professional cycling the chances are we are familiar with the dulcet tones of Sean Kelly, regular co-commentator on eurosport's cycling coverage. A terrific foil to David Harmon, Kelly spices up a long day's commentary with the insights only an ex-pro could provide.

It took me a little while to get used to the Harmon - Kelly combo, brought up as I was on cycling commentary-lite from Phil Liggett  and Paul Sherwen. Now I have seen the light, with Liggett and Sherwen seeming more like the Little and Large of cycling commentary if you like, to Harmon and Kelly's Morecombe and Wise. Nothing inherently wrong with that, I just feel that David Harmon and Sean Kelly come across as less trite, less afraid of judging cycling and cyclists as it really is. Warts and all.

So it was with great pleasure I came across Rapha's piece on Sean Kelly the rider. What a hero he was - a rider to aspire to and to admire. And a real hard man...

So thanks to Ultan Coyle for the treat that can be found over on the Rapha website.