Ride from Bangkok to Phuket with Pro Cycling Champion Sean Kelly

Pro cycling champion, Sean Kelly will be returning to Thailand to take part in a SpiceRoads tour from Bangkok to Phuket, Thailand, from 13 to 22 February 2015.

This special road bike tour is designed for cyclists who want to push themselves and at the same time have an opportunity to ride with a former professional cyclist.

Spending ten days with Kelly they will have intimate time with him to get training tips and to hear some of his tales of racing against Eddie Merckx, Greg LeMond, Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain at the European classics and Grand Tours.

Alan Benson who rode on the Sean Kelly tour in 2014 said, “To have the chance to actually ride with him for a few days was for me, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Riding with Sean was mighty, he is a pure gentleman.”

Hailing from Ireland, Kelly was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classic riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193 professional races in total. During his career he started in the Tour de France 15 times and wore the maillot vert on four occasions, won Paris-Nice seven years in a row and the first UCI World Cup in 1989. Kelly was a complete rider who could sprint, time-trial and climb with the best and raced hard during the entire racing calendar.

Retired from professional cycling since 1994, Kelly nonetheless remains hugely involved in the sport, from his work as a TV commentator for Eurosport covering the Tour de France, to his formation of the Sean Kelly Cycling Team. Kelly is rightly regarded as one of the greatest sportsmen to ever come from Ireland.

On the Bangkok to Phuket tour cyclists will ride 924km in eight cycling days. The group, which will be limited to 30 participants who have road riding experience, will ride along both the east and the west coast of Thailand and overnight at resorts along the way, with afternoons free to enjoy the beach or the pool.

The tour starts in the Thai capital of Bangkok and ends at Mai Khao beach on the resort island of Phuket.

The ride with Sean Kelly tour cost is US$3,000 and will be fully supported by air-conditioned vehicles, with water, sports drinks and snacks provided during the ride.

Riders can bring their own bikes, or rent a Trek Domane 2.3 road bike from SpiceRoads for US$250, or a carbon Trek Emonda S5 for US$350.