Carrick-on-Suir's Tour de France stars lead Sunday cycle from their hometown

Some lucky cyclists got the rare chance to ride in the company of Carrick-on- Suir’s two Tour de France Green Jersey winners – Sean Kelly and Sam Bennett – in a tour of Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel and county Waterford on Sunday.

Around 40 cyclists from Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel joined the two cycling greats for a brisk 63-mile ride on a cold but sunny winter’s day.

Kelly and Bennett started the cycle in Carrick-on-Suir and led the group to Clonmel, Ballymacarbry, the outskirts of Dungarvan and onto Lemybrien in county Waterford before heading back to Carrick.

Sean Kelly, who won four Tour de France Green Jerseys during his illustrious cycling career, said it was great to meet up and cycle again with Sam Bennett from Carrickbeg, who emulated his achievements of winning the coveted Green Jersey in the 2020 Tour and was last month accorded a civic reception by Tipperary County Council in recognition of his outstanding achievement.

“I hadn’t cycled with Sam for over two and a half years because of the Covid-19 restrictions. The last time was at the Burren Tour charity cycle,” Sean Kelly told The Nationalist.

“It was great to meet up with him and an opportunity for a lot of people in Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel to join Sam and myself on the ride. It turned out to be much bigger than we expected. We had about 40 to 45 people taking part.”