The Lost Trophy of Sean Kelly

 I have two trophies from my years of competition in cycling.

Well, in reality they are just a couple of plastic shield shapes with metal plates affixed on which are etched my achievements namely fastest 25 mile time trial and most points from placings in a single season.

I was presented with some proper silverware in each category but of course they had to go back to the Cycling Club for the awards ceremony for the following season.

They are from the same year which means that I had time on my hands to dedicate to a bit if serious training and participation.

I am quite proud of them even though, unfortunately, my surname is incorrectly spelt on both. I could have made a fuss at the time and had them returned to the promotions shop from whence they came for correction but I never got around to doing that.

For a few years they stood on any spare bit of window cill, shelf edge or cabinet space but progressively became relegated in prominence so that they eventually ended up in my tool box in the garage.

1980's plastics have subsequently proven to be prone to fatigue and the by now tarnished plaques fell off as did the hinged mount at the back and before long each of them were in pieces and beyond salvage.

At least, and this is a small mercy, I know at this very minute where they are but the same cannot be said for perhaps the most prized trophy of my cycling favourite, Sean Kelly who in the 1980's ranked as the best all rounder in the elite pro ranks.

His own trophy collection is vast from his endeavours in his peak years from the European Classics to prestigious Stage Races but one is most noticeable in its absence, the top prize for La Vuelta, The Tour of Spain which Kelly won in 1988.

It was, remarkably, his only Grand Tour win even though he had come close in the previous year's event only to be forced to drop out because of a complications over a saddle sore.

Photos of his celebration on the podium in Madrid after the final stage of 20 across the Iberian Peninsular, show a large silver bowl, embossed with feather like motifs, supported on elegant swans neck legs and with handles as though the bows of an Egyptian galley.

Kelly is holding the jet black plinth with the care and attention of a father cradling his newborn child.

It is a large piece of commemorative bling and destined, you would expect, for pride of place in the Kelly home in Carrick on Suir, Ireland. It never made it.

In the post-Vuelta round of dinners and speeches that come with the obligations to team mates, management and sponsors that trophy will have been relentlessly handled and passed around, with or without a champagne filling.

The main squad sponsors, KAS, a soft and fizzy drinks manufacturer and long time supporter of Spanish Pro- Cycling Teams had the distinctive prize on display at their factory in Vitoria Gasteiz in the Basque Region of Spain.

It may have been in the reception area, on the factory floor, in the staff canteen or in the Boardroom but somehow it became misplaced.

The sale of KAS to Pepsi Cola in 1991 is likely to have led to a rationalisation of the business, possible redundancies and closures of the Vitoria premises and in the process and inevitable confusion it may have been put in a box and into storage or even taken away, for protective reasons by an employee.

The sense of Basque pride in the winning of that National Tour in 1988 meant that the trophy would be revered and respected and with every intention for it to be seen in public.

It seems that it emerged in a Cafe Bar in the town.

Kelly meanwhile continued his illustrious career on the road.

I slapped him on the back at the finish line of the Wincanton Classic one day race in Newcastle in 1989 as he wheeled through the crowds to collect his third place prize. I like to think that even in his exhausted state he was thinking of the whereabouts of his Vuelta Trophy.

In successive years the bit of silverware was passed around amongst businesses in Vitoria including Restaurants and Pizzerias.

Every few years the word reached Kelly that it had been sighted and although friends and contacts tried to follow up on the speculation, hearsay and rumour it remained elusive.

Retrieving the trophy is still uppermost in Kelly's mind and he spoke about this is in a Podcast just a few days ago at the 2018 Vuelta where he is a commentator for Eurosport.

He has pursued, as much as possible, more recent leads but to no avail.

I thought I might help out and have posted a question through the on-line enquiries of the websites of a dozen or so Vitoria located pizza places.

The preceding questions on the respective sites are all about what is on the menu's, whether dishes are vegetarian, vegan or gluten free or if an establishment can take a wedding party of 150 persons, or so I have translated from Spanish.

Whilst I await any responses, although I do not hold out too much hope, I may go and try to stick together the bits and pieces of my own trophies and remember how I won them, all of those years ago.

(Inspired by the Lionel Birnie, Cycling Podcast feature and interview with Sean Kelly, Sept 2018)


Footnote; Two of the Vitoria Restaurants were kind enough to respond to my enquiry and although they had no information they were sympathetic to the situation.