n the finale of one 1986 Nissan Classic stage, the Irish crosswinds were howling and the race was on. Sean Kelly and the rest of the bunch were in the gutter, finding shelter. Except for one man for all seasons, competing with an eye on the forthcoming winter track season. He moved a metre out of the paceline and stayed there. His peers moved behind to get some cover. After finishing in Limerick, former world champion Hennie Kuiper shook his head in disbelief and said admiringly: “Ohhh, Tony Doyle.” It was a fitting image for an outlier who didn’t follow the crowd. Two-time individual pursuit world champion Doyle, who passed away at the age of 64 in April 2023 with pancreatic cancer, was sufficiently tough, strong and stubborn to do things
