Stephen Roche rode on an Irish team in the 1979 Rás and the bikes were sponsored by Raleigh Ireland.
Roche subsequently gave the frame to fellow Dubliner, Peter Crinnion, who was an important mentor to him in his emerging career. Crinnion himself had been a pioneering Irish cyclist – he joined a professional continental team in 1961 and helped pave the way for subsequent Irish professionals. Crinnion’s name is etched on the frame and can be vaguely discerned on the underneath of the right-hand chain-stay.
In turn, Crinnion gave the frame to Gene Mangan who won the Rás in 1955 and who has a significant collection of historic bikes, racing memorabilia and documentation. Mangan restored the frame and fitted it with the relevant Campognolo, Cinelli and Mavic componentry.
Mangan later gave the bike to its current owner, Tom Daly, in acknowledgement of his documenting the history of the Rás (2003), and the political and social context from which it emerged and developed.
Therefore, from Raleigh Ireland to its present custodian, the bicycle has had five owners without any money changing hands. Hence, it has been referred to as ‘The Gift Bike’.
TI-Raleigh Team bikes were at the very top of the range in their day. The frame was of Reynolds steel-alloy tubing and fitted with Campagnolo Record groupsets. The bikes were also used by the TI-Raleigh professional team which had much success at that period, including 11 Tour de France stage wins and a string of victories in classic races such as Paris-Nice, Amstel Gold Race and Ronde van Vlaanderen.
http://www.orwellwheelers.org/forum/8-miscellaneous-club-chatter/4330-presentation-of-roche-s-ras-bike-tuesday-morning
When Stephen Roche decided to give up his job as a maintenance worker in a suburban Dublin dairy and move to France as a professional bike racer, there were more than a few skeptics.
"People said I'd get as far as the Eiffel Tower, go once round it, and come home again," Roche said. Six years later, the charismatic Irishman with the curly black hair and deep blue eyes is still living in France--as the world's undisputed No. 1 cyclist.
Few sportsmen have a had season quite like Roche, winner of professional cycling's Triple Crown--the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and the World Championship, a feat performed only once before, by Belgium's Eddie Merckx in 1974.
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-01-17/sports/sp-36681_1_stephen-roche http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/how-stephen-roche-finished-in-the-pink-in-the-giro-d-italia-1.1785621
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