Early years Flandria were a Belgian cycling team sponsored by a Belgian company Flandria, which manufactured bicycles, mopeds and scooters. Guillaume Driessens was the
directeur sportif of the Flandria team, one of the world's best, with riders such as
Freddy Maertens,
Marc Demeyer and
Michel Pollentier among their ranks. Flandria required a French squad to expand its commercial interests in France, so they hired
Jean de Gribaldy to assemble and direct a new team. The French squad competed predominantly in smaller French races. The Belgian team based in Belgium contained the strongest and most experienced riders. Good performances meant promotion from de Gribaldy's French squad to the Belgian team. On 7 February 1977, Kelly participated in his first race as a professional competitor, the first stage of the six-day
stage race Étoile de Bessèges. He made an impressive debut, finishing tenth in the opening stage and third in the final overall general classification. On 19 February 1977, in the first stage of the
Tour Méditerranéen, Kelly was denied his first professional victory. Without the benefit of a
photo-finish, the judge at the finish line deemed
Jan Raas the winner in a sprint finish, with Kelly given second place. Several years later, a photographer who had captured a photo at the finish line that day met Kelly in southern France, showing him the image which provided emphatic evidence that Kelly was the winner of the stage. On 6 March 1977, in a six-man
sprint finish, Kelly recorded his first win as a professional, the
pro–am Grand Prix de Lugano in Switzerland. Kelly's early impressive displays caught the attention of Guillaume Driessens and the Belgian Flandria squad, resulting in Kelly being promoted and selected to compete with their team at the 1977
Paris–Nice as a
domestique for Freddy Maertens. Maertens won the opening
prologue and defended his leader's jersey throughout the entire race winning overall. On 19 March 1977, Kelly participated in his first
Monument Classic, the
Milan–San Remo. On 11 May 1977, competing with the French squad, Kelly won the first stage of the
Tour de Romandie in Switzerland and finished tenth overall in the final general classification. On 25 May 1977, Kelly won the French one-day race Circuit de l'Indre, outsprinting
Eddy Merckx into second place. In October 1977, Kelly recorded his fourth win of the season, outsprinting Frenchman Serge Périn in the fourth stage of the
Étoile des Espoirs. Kelly stayed with de Gribaldy for 1978. In 1978, he started in the
Tour de France, in which he also won a stage.
Michel Pollentier was disqualified from the 1978 Tour de France after cheating a drugs test on the afternoon that he took the race lead. He left the team at the end of the season and started his own, with a new backer, Splendor. Both Maertens and Pollentier wanted Kelly. Pollentier and Splendor offered Kelly more and made him a team leader. Kelly and Pollentier often shared hotel rooms. But Splendor was new and logistic problems became obvious. The bikes were in poor state – enough that Splendor decided not to ride Paris–Roubaix – and the manager, Robert Lauwers, was replaced. Kelly rose above it and rode for himself.
Stage successes . By now Kelly had a reputation as a sprinter who could not win stage races, although he did finish fourth in the 1980
Vuelta a España. De Gribaldy employed him as unambiguous team leader, someone he believed could win stage races and not just stages. To this end, de Gribaldy encouraged Kelly to lose weight, convincing the latter that he could target the overall win at
Paris–Nice: Kelly won the "Race to the Sun" and four of its stages. On the last of those, a time-trial to the
Col d'Èze, he beat
Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle and pushed him out of the lead. Years later Kelly admitted that his countryman Roche's emergence during his neo-pro season in 1981, during which he had also won Paris–Nice, was one of the factors which motivated him to adjust his focus to becoming more of an all-round rider. However, the spring classics season proved a disappointment, with Kelly's best result being a 12th place in
Paris–Roubaix after suffering multiple punctures. Despite that, that season he went on to win another of objectives set by de Gribaldy: the
points classification of the
Tour de France, where he took five second places on flat stages before winning a reduced bunch sprint in
Pau after climbing the
Col d'Aubisque. His points total was nearly three times that of the points classification runner-up, the yellow jersey winner
Bernard Hinault. the first world medal for an Irish rider since
Shay Elliott's silver in
1962. Kelly confirmed his potential in autumn 1983. A leading group of 18 entered
Como in the
Giro di Lombardia after a battle over the Intelvi and Schignano passes. Kelly won the sprint to take his first
Monument by the narrowest margin, less than half a wheel separating the first four, against cycling greats including
Francesco Moser,
Adri van der Poel,
Hennie Kuiper and World Champion
Greg LeMond. Kelly dominated the following spring. He won
Paris–Nice for the third successive time beating Roche as well as the Tour de France winner,
Bernard Hinault who was returning after a knee injury. Kelly finished second in
Milan–San Remo and the
Tour of Flanders, but was unbeatable in
Paris–Roubaix and
Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The day after Paris–Roubaix, the French daily sports paper,
L'Équipe, pictured Kelly cycling the cobbles with mud on his face and had the heading
Insatiable Kelly! referring to his appetite for winning that spring. He won all three stages in the Critérium International: the bunch sprint on stage 1, a solo victory in the mountain stage and beating Roche in the final
time trial. Kelly achieved 33 victories in 1984. He was becoming a contender in the
Grand Tours, as seen by finishing fifth in the
Tour de France. This may have caused him to lose his grip on the
points classification in that year's Tour. Kelly was wearing it as the Tour was finishing on the
Champs-Élysées but lost it in the bunch finish to the Belgian,
Frank Hoste, who finished ahead of Kelly gaining points to take the jersey off Kelly's shoulders. He won
Paris–Nice in 1985, again beating Roche. He also took three stage wins at the
Vuelta a España, but suffered a frustrating spring classics season, taking a third place at Paris–Roubaix and fourth at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, but losing out on wins through poor tactical decisions, such as at Milan–San Remo where he and rival
Eric Vanderaerden marked each other out of contention. He won the points classification for the third time and finished fourth overall in the 1985
Tour de France, where his rivalry with Vanderaerden boiled over at the finish of the sixth stage in
Reims: the latter veered to prevent Kelly from coming past in the final sprint, leading Kelly to push Vanderarden, and the Belgian pulling the Irishman's jersey in response. The race saw him battle for the last step on the GC podium with Stephen Roche: although Roche finished the Tour in third position overall, the duo's performances saw interest in the race expanding gradually in the Irish press. Kelly won the first
Nissan International Classic beating Adri van der Poel. At the end of the season, he won the
Giro di Lombardia. He won
Milan–San Remo in 1986 after winning
Paris–Nice. In Milan–San Remo, Kelly was being marked closely by Vanderaerden in the closing stages of the race.
Mario Beccia attacked on the race's final climb of the
Poggio di San Remo and was followed by
Greg LeMond. In order to shake Vanderaerden, Kelly feigned a mechanical problem before sprinting away to join the lead group, and drove hard on the front to prevent
Niki Rüttimann, LeMond's team-mate, who had followed Kelly, from linking up with the front group: Kelly won the three-up sprint at the finish. He also took stage wins at the
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Critérium International and
Three Days of De Panne. He finished second in the Tour of Flanders and won Paris–Roubaix again. According to his autobiography
Hunger, Kelly gave his support to Van der Poel in the latter's bid to win Flanders in exchange for the Dutchman's help in the French cobbled Classic. In Flanders, Kelly rode on the front of the leading four man group in the closing stages of the race, which also included Van der Poel,
Jean-Philippe Vandenbrande and
Steve Bauer: regarding the final sprint, Kelly wrote that "I started my sprint early, and I knew Van der Poel was probably in my wheel as well, but I certainly gave it 100 percent." After Flanders, he flew to Spain to race the Tour of the Basque Country, which he won, before flying north to compete in Paris–Roubaix. Roles were reversed as Kelly followed Van der Poel in latching onto an attack from
Ferdi Van Den Haute on a late cobbled
secteur to form another four-man group along with
Rudy Dhaenens. Van Den Haute attacked again a kilometre from the race finish – which was located away from
Roubaix Velodrome for the first time since 1943 – and once again Van der Poel led Kelly out in the sprint, enabling the latter to cross the line first. To date, Kelly is one of only four riders to win the double of Milan–San Remo and Paris–Roubaix in the same year, along with
Cyrille van Hauwaert in 1908,
John Degenkolb in 2015 and
Mathieu van der Poel in 2023 and 2025. Kelly was engaged in an intense racing schedule, even by contemporary standards, having competed 34 times from the beginning of the season to 1986. He later explained this as partly due to the influence of Jean de Gribaldy, who reasoned that he might as well race if he was going to have to train on his bike if he didn't compete, and because of new sponsor
Kas, a Spanish soft drink manufacturer, who were primarily concerned with success in Spain, and uninterested in winning the Classics, meaning Kelly had to compete in both types of races. He finished on a podium in a Grand Tour for the first time when he finished third in the 1986
Vuelta a España, winning two stages along the way. As a result of serious injuries sustained in a crash during the final stage of the 1986
Tour de Suisse, in which he went over a wall on a descent, Kelly missed the 1986
Tour de France. He returned to Ireland and won the
Nissan Classic again. His second win in the Nissan came after a duel with
Steve Bauer, who took the yellow jersey after Kelly crashed numerous times. Kelly went into the final stage three seconds behind Bauer and took the jersey when he finished third on the stage and won bonus seconds. Kelly took more than 30 victories in total across the 1986 season. He won
Gent–Wevelgem several weeks later.
Grand Tour success in 1988. Kelly returned in April to the 1988
Vuelta a España which started on the rugged mountainous island of
Tenerife where his team struggled in the second stage, losing the influential rider
Thomas Wegmüller to
dysentery and losing further time in the time-trial around
Las Palmas. However, on the Spanish mainland, Kelly concentrated on winning sprint time bonuses, battling with sprinter
Manuel Jorge Domínguez, the teammate of leader,
Laudelino Cubino. After regaining a minute in four days, the race reached the mountains where Kelly relied on help from
Robert Millar of team to stay within two minutes of Cubino after the mountain trial to Alto Oviedo. He then finished fourth behind stage-winner
Fabio Parra and
Anselmo Fuerte on stage 13 to the ski-station at
Cerler, cutting a minute and a half into Cubino's lead. From this stage, Fuerte had moved into second overall and later took the jersey from Cubino on the 16th stage to
Albacete when the leader got caught on the wrong side of a split caused by cross-winds. Kelly maintained the gap between himself and Fuerte and started the
time trial on the second last day 21 seconds behind. Confident that he could overhaul the leader, he "put it in a big gear and gave it everything." He took the leader's "maillot amarillo" (yellow jersey), beating Fuerte by almost two minutes. The following day Kelly won his only
Grand Tour, over West German
Raimund Dietzen and also won the points competition. After his Vuelta win Kelly returned to Carrick-on-Suir where a parade was held in his honour.
Twilight of his career . Kelly finished 46th overall in the 1988
Tour de France, just over an hour behind winner, Spaniard
Pedro Delgado, and later admitted he was no longer a contender for overall victory. He finished third behind the German,
Rolf Gölz, in the 1988 Nissan Classic. In 1989, Kelly switched to the Dutch team and stayed there for three years until the end of the 1991 season. He achieved his first major victory with PDM in 1989, winning the
Liège–Bastogne–Liège for the second time. The same year he won the
points classification in the Tour de France for the fourth time and the inaugural
UCI Road World Cup championship. He won bronze in the sprint finish at the rainy 1989
Road World Championships Elite Men's Road Race in
Chambéry, France behind
Dimitri Konyshev and winner
Greg LeMond. Kelly won the
Tour de Suisse in 1990 for the second time. In March 1991, while competing in the
Paris–Nice, he broke his right collarbone. During the 1991
Tour de France, the entire PDM team, including Kelly, abandoned the race, citing illness, which later became known as the "Intralipid Affair." In August 1991, Kelly abandoned his racing schedule to participate in the
Tour of Galicia after his brother Joe was tragically killed in the Comeragh 100 near
Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He came back to win his fourth Nissan Classic by four seconds over
Sean Yates and went on to win the
Giro di Lombardia at the end of the season. .Kelly won the Giro di Lombardia for a third time in 1991 but started 1992 regarded as past his prime. He moved to in 1992 and prepared for
Milan–San Remo. Race favourite
Moreno Argentin attacked from the leading group on the final climb, the
Poggio. He broke clear after several attempts and reached the top eight seconds before the rest. It seemed he was on his way to a solo victory as the peloton descended the Poggio, where
Maurizio Fondriest led, marked by Argentin's teammate
Rolf Sørensen. Kelly was behind these two in third position. Kelly attacked with three kilometres of descending left. Sorensen could not hold his acceleration and Kelly got away. He caught Argentin with a kilometre to go. Both stalled, the chasers closing fast, Argentin gesturing to Kelly to take the front. Kelly stayed on Argentin's wheel. The two moved again, preparing for a sprint; Kelly launched himself and in the final 200m came past Argentin to win his final Classic. Kelly's first appearance and sole participation in the Giro d'Italia was in
1992. His team, Lotus–Festina, was offered a wild card entry under the condition that Kelly was included in their starting team. He pulled out of the race after stage 16 from
Palazzolo sull’Oglio to
Sondrio, later admitting his intention of not completing the Giro and his agreement with his
directeur sportif that he would withdraw at some stage. In 1992, Kelly travelled to
Colombia for the
Clásico RCN, where he won the second stage. His former PDM teammate,
Martin Earley, pushed him into second place at the 1994
Irish National Road Championships. Kelly's last year as a professional was 1994, when he rode for Catavana. He returned to Carrick-on-Suir at the end of the season to ride the annual Hamper race. That was Kelly's last race as a professional.
Eddy Merckx,
Laurent Fignon,
Bernard Hinault,
Roger De Vlaeminck,
Claude Criquielion, Stephen Roche, Martin Earley,
Acácio da Silva and
Paul Kimmage were among 1,200 cyclists present. The
President of Ireland,
Mary Robinson, attended a civic presentation to Kelly the day before the race. Kelly won in a sprint against Roche. Kelly won this race again six years later. ==Legacy and riding style==