Paul Kimmage made his Olympic debut at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, finishing 27th in the road race after a rear wheel spoke snapped and fell into the gear mechanism at the precise moment he had joined the lead group of 20 riders at the halfway point.

In February 1984, Kimmage and his brother Raphael had followed in the footsteps of Stephen Roche by joining the French amateur club ACBB in Paris – where cyclists were, as Kimmage described it, ‘welcomed, tried and then unceremoniously dumped.’ He survived and was selected for Los Angeles.

He also competed in the 100km team time trial in which Ireland finished 16th.

After retiring from professional cycling he became one of the most respected and fearless sports journalists of his generation – best known for his groundbreaking book Rough Ride, a candid account of drug use in professional cycling that changed the sport’s history.