Seamus Elliott

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Seamus Elliott

Personal information
Full name	Seamus Elliott
Nickname	Shay
Date of birth	4 June 1934(1934-06-04)
Date of death	4 May 1971 (aged 36)
Country	Ireland
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
1956-1958 1959-1961 1962-1964 1965 1966-1967 1968-1969 1970	Helyett-Potin Helyett-Fynsec Saint Raphael-Geminiani Ford France-Gitane Mercier-BP-Hutchinson Did not ride Falcon
Infobox last updated on:
March 14, 2007

Seamus 'Shay' Elliott (born 4 June 1934 in Dublin, Ireland, died 4 May 1971 in Dublin) was an Irish road bicycle racer.

Shay Elliott was the first Irish cyclist to make a mark as a professional rider in continental Europe. A talented rider, he spent most of his career riding as a domestique for stars such as Jacques Anquetil and Jean Stablinski. He won stages in all the Grand Tours and was 2nd (to Stablinski) in the 1962 World Road Championship at Salò in Italy.

He was the first Irishman to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France (1963) and he came third in the 1962 Vuelta a España. He won the Omloop "Het Volk" semic-classic in 1959.

Contents 1 Amateur career 2 Professional career 3 Retirement 4 Memorials 5 Major results 6 External links

[edit] Amateur career

At 18 Elliott won the 1953 Irish amateur road championship. His second place in the Tour of Ireland that year earned him a trip to the Simplex training camp in Monte Carlo the following spring.

During the winter he contacted former French professional roadman Francis Pélissier to seek advice for the camp. Pélissier told Elliott to compete in as many races as possible, at least three or four a week - possibly in France, but not in Ireland, a cycling backwater. Elliott did the next best thing, training hard, and his form was noted at the camp. He was recruited by a French amateur team and won the Galibier stage of the Route de France stage race.

In 1955 he joined the ACBB (Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt) in Paris, France's top amateur team. He won five one-day amateur classics. His form impressed professional teams and he joined the paid ranks for the 1956 season.

[edit] Professional career

1956 was a season of adjustment, but in his first major race of 1957, the Omloop "Het Volk" in Belgium, he made a race-long break with Englishman Brian Robinson. The break was caught near the finish but Elliott's form was noted. He became a team mate of Jacques Anquetil and Jean Stablinski.

In 1959 he had his best one-day event with victory in the semi-classic Omloop "Het Volk", the first non-Begian winner.

In 1962 he came third in the 1962 Vuelta a España, winning the fourth stage and coming second in the points classification. He led the race for nine days.

In the 1962 World Road Championship at Salò in Italy, he got into the winning break with his friend Stablinski. Stablinksi was a team mate in the professional peloton but supposedly a rival in the championship, where riders rode in national teams. However, Elliott and Stablinksi worked to wear down the other break members. When Stablinksi attacked, Elliott refused to chase and the Frenchman won alone. Elliott eventually broke away to take the silver medal. Elliott admitted he had sacrificed his chance for Stablinski's benefit.

Elliott's best result was in the 1963 Tour de France. On stage three he and Stablinksi, both on Anquetil's St-Raphaël team, got into a break that established a nine-minute lead. When Elliott punctured, Stablinksi controlled the break to allow him to regain his place. With six kilometres to the finish in Roubaix Elliott broke away, Stablinski refused to chase and the stage was won. The lead was enough to give Elliott the yellow jersey of leader, the first Irishman to wear it. He held it for three days.

Elliott was married to Stablinski's sister, Marguerite. When the marriage faltered, Elliott moved from Paris to Loctudy in Brittany, where he opened a hotel. The hotel failed and Elliott lost money. To make amends, he sold a story to the British newspaper, the Sunday People telling of drug-taking and bribery. The article went into few details but was enough for him to be snubbed by other professionals. His career never regained momentum.

The British writer Jock Wadley, who had shared a room with Elliott at the Simplex training camp and wrote a feature for his magazine, Sporting Cyclist, said: "I knew times were hard for him but nobody knew just how hard until he had to do that."

[edit] Retirement

Elliott returned to Dublin in 1967 and set up a metal-working business with his father. Two years later Marguerite returned to France. Elliott tried a racing comeback in Britain in 1970 with the Falcon team and came 21st in his first race, London-Holyhead. At 270 miles it was the longest unpaced race in the world. and the death of his son in a traffic accident.

In 1970 Elliott made a comeback, riding for the Falcon team in England. His first race was the London-Holyhead - 270 miles long and the longest unpaced race in the world. He came 21st. In 1965 he had ridden the same race, after which pictures in Cycling showed him braking before the line to prevent Albert Hitchen winning and to secure victory for Tom Simpson, even though Elliott and Simpson were in different teams.

Domestic professional racing was not as attractive or rewarding as continental. Combining cycling with a full-time job meant he struggled. Despite problems, he continued to ride, train juniors and formulate plans for Irish cycling.

In April 1971 his father died. Elliott was already upset by the death of his son in a road accident. Two days after his father's funeral, on May 4, 1971, Elliott was found dead in his garage from a shotgun wound.

[edit] Memorials

The Shay Elliott Memorial Road Race is run every year in Ireland in his honour. The race was previously known as the Route de Chill Mhantain. It became the Shay Elliott Trophy in the late sixties, then the Shay Elliott Memorial after his death in 1971. The race is the most prestigious Irish one-day event after the national championship.

A monument to Elliott erected by friends stands on the climb from Drumgoff Bridge towards Laragh in County Wicklow, Ireland.

[edit] Major results

[edit] External links

• Seamus Elliott's palmares at memoire-du-cyclisme.net (French)
• an article on Seamus Elliott by Owen Mulholland at bikeraceinfo.com
• An article about Seamus Elliott at CyclingRevealed.com
• Seamus Elliott at DeWielerSite.net (English version available)