As the four-times winner of the points classification in the Tour de France, Sean Kelly knows what it’s like to struggle to get your breath when you’re pedalling for all your worth at over 9,000 feet in the French Alps – but he never had to take on the mountains with an oxygen tank strapped to a bike beside him.

Frenchman Philippe Poncet didn’t compete in the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España – but he does know what it’s like to struggle for breath every minute of every day…and it still doesn’t stop him for getting up on his bike.

Last week, both men were in Galway for the last leg of an international tour to raise awareness of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Poncet suffered from this respiratory condition, just like 400,000 people across Ireland – 30 million Europeans and more than 400 million globally – and he led out the final stage of the tour with a portable oxygen device on an accompanying bike.

Sean Kelly was joined by fellow cycling legend Claudio Chiappucci, the Italian known as El Diablo who was twice King of the Mountains in the Tour de France.

Also on the start line at the Spanish Arch on Saturday were former East Galway TD, Government Minister and President of Cycling Ireland Ciaran Cannon – all of whom were seen off for their 85km run to Letterfrack by Minister Hildegarde Naughton.

Mr Poncet – who is a world record holder for cycling speeds despite being diagnosed with Stage 4 COPD in 2008 – needs oxygen 24/7 as his lungs operate at only 30% capacity.

Fittingly, the cycling peloton also included two pulmonary professors, Sean Gaine and Michael McWeeney.

The COPD Tour is endorsed by the UCI World Cycling Centre and supported by Cycling Ireland – something that President of Cycling Ireland Ciaran Cannon said sends out ‘a really strong message, that we should all listen to’.

“He has proven conclusively that you can exercise through your illness, and that exercise actually has a therapeutic benefit accruing to you, while you are ill,” he said.

“Exercise is for all ages. Exercise is a hugely preventative measure that one can take to avoid becoming ill later in life. So it’s a therapy. It’s free.”

Pictured: Minister Hildegarde Naughton, Cycling legends Claudio Chiappucci and Sean Kelly,  Cycling Ireland President Ciaran Cannon, Philippe Poncet, COPD sufferer and president of French COPD organisation Organization o2&cie Emergency COPD, and members of the Galway Bay cycling club, Seven Springs Loughrea cycling club and Oranmore Wheelers before the start of a charity cycle organised through Cycling Ireland from the Claddagh in Galway city to the Connemara National Park in Letterfrack in aid of COPD Ireland. COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, is a group of lung conditions that make it difficult to breathe, which already affects more than 400,000 people in Ireland.