Paul Kimmage
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Paul Kimmage (born May 7, 1962 in Dublin, Ireland) is an award-winning sports journalist who writes for the Sunday Times newspaper in the United Kingdom and is a former professional road bicycle racer.
Kimmage was born into a famous Irish cycling family - his father, Christy, was the road race champion of Ireland in 1962 and his brothers Raphael and Kevin were also successful cyclists.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Amateur career
Paul Kimmage had a prominent career as an amateur cyclist, most notably his 6th place at the amateur world road race championships. His two brothers also enjoyed moments in the spotlight - Raphael finished second overall in the 1984 edition of the Ras Tailteann while Kevin won the race in 1991.
Kimmage replicated his reputation as a successful amateur cyclist in Ireland, for the French ACBB team and the Belgium CC Wasquel amateur team. He also represented his native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Notable performances as an amateur included those on July 5, 1981 where he became the national road race champion of Ireland ahead of the old but at that time still competitive cyclist Paddy Flanagan.[1] He was sixth in the 1985 amateur world road race championships. He also finished in ninth place in a professional race, the classic Bordeaux-Paris behind Belgian René Martens in 1985.[2]
[edit] Professional career
In 1986 Kimmage joined the professional French RMO team under directeur sportif Bernard Thévenet. During his time in the peloton he was a sometime sports journalist, writing occasional pieces published in Irish newspapers, with interest in the sport at a high point due to the success in the peloton of his fellow countrymen Stephen Roche and Seán Kelly.
As a rider Kimmage struggled with injury, and he retired from cycling in 1989 with no professional wins. Kimmage had become disillusioned with the sport, most notable its drug scandals, and in the same year became a full time journalist. His career highlights include a ninth place on stage 7 of the 1986 Tour de France. He was a part of the four man Irish Team together with Stephen Roche, Sean Kelly and Martin Earley that prepared together for and competed at the UCI Road World Championships in 1987 that ended with a win by Stephen Roche. Several weeks later during the 1987 edition of the Nissan Classic in which Kimmage finished eighth overall, Kelly thanked Roche, Earley and Kimmage for closing the gap to a dangerous break and therefore ensuring the yellow jersey of Kelly.[3]
He left the RMO team at the end of 1988 and rode for half a season for the Fagor-MBK team of Stephen Roche and Eddy Schepers with directeur sportif Patrick Valcke. He supported Roche in the 1989 Giro d'Italia which was won by Laurent Fignon with Roche finishing in ninth place. Kimmage was planning on ending his professional cycling career at the end of the 1989 Nissan Classic which ended each year on O'Connell Street in Dublin but after Roche had to withdraw from the 1989 Tour de France, Kimmage withdrew and subsequently gave up as a professional.[4]
[edit] Rough Ride
In May 1990, Kimmage published the book, Rough Ride, detailing his experiences as a lowly domestique in the professional peloton, which included references to near endemic performance-enhancing drug usage.
On publication, Kimmage was vilified within his former profession as having "spat in the soup," and within Ireland for having slurred the reputation of sports heroes Kelly and Roche. Roche responded with particular anger and threat of litigation, though Kimmage had never actually named him (or Kelly) among those he had seen doping. Despite the controversy that Rough Ride caused in the cycling ranks, the book was acclaimed by many who cited its honest, frank and open assesment of ethics within the professional ranks of road cycling. It won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in its year of publication.
Kimmage had been a sports journalist with the Sunday Independent newspaper in Ireland. He left for the Sunday Times soon after an incident in 2002, when the newspaper misrepresented an article he had written about Roy Keane in the wake of the Saipan saga involving Keane. The newspaper editors had taken a quote from Keane out of context to run a headline that implied Keane was planning to leave his wife.
[edit] References
| Preceded by Dan Topolski & Patrick Robinson |
William Hill Sports Book of the Year winner 1990 |
Succeeded by Thomas Hauser |
