Thursday, 11 December 2014

British Professional Cycling – Tykes and Le Tour de France was his topic and though the British were late in entering a team in the race - 1955, Mike took his audience back to the beginnings of cycling, cycle racing, and Le Tour.

The first Tour was in 1903, its unlikely origins in the Dreyfus Affair. Dreyfus was an army captain convicted of passing military secrets to the Germans. He was exonerated some years later but in the meantime French opinion was divided and there were demonstrations on both sides. The largest sports newspaper, Le Velo, supported Dreyfus. A rival paper, L'Auto, owned by someone who thought Dreyfus guilty, was set up but struggled to get close to its rival's sales and the first Tour was to be the answer.

The Tour was the first staged race and initially, the riders entered as individuals or as a member of a team until the thirties, when it became teams only, they being sponsored by bike manufacturers. The first staged race in Britain took place in 1942 between Llangollen and Wolverhampton and in 1945 the first version of the Tour of Britain was held.

Charles Holland and Bill Burl were the first Britons in the race in 1937. It took 18 years for Ravensthorpe-born Brian Robinson to become the first Briton to finish the Tour and the first to win a stage.

Barry Hoban was born ten years after Robinson, in Wakefield. He formerly held the record for the most stage wins in the Tour by a British rider, winning eight between 1967 and 1975. He holds the record for the most Tours completed by a British rider – having finished 11 of the 12 he started between 1965 and 1978. He was also the only Briton to have won two consecutive stages of the Tour until Mark Cavendish matched it in 2008.

Malcolm Elliott was not born in West Yorkshire but in Sheffield, in 1961. He was mainly a sprint cyclist and his breakthrough came at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane where he first took gold in the team time trial and then again in the 184 kilometre road race, but did take part in the 1987 Tour.

Mike told his audience that he rated Tom Simpson as the most successful British cyclist. Simpson was both a road and track cyclist and his major achievements stretched from 1955 to 1967 and included donning the yellow jersey 3 times in the Tour, with a 6th place finish overall in 1962 as his best performance.

Some may argue with Mike's estimation of Simpson's achievements when compared with those of Leeds native Beryl Burton. Burton won the women's world road race championship in 1960 and 1967 and was runner-up in 1961. On the track, she specialised in the individual pursuit, winning world championship medals almost every year across three decades. She was world champion five times silver-medallist three times, and winner of five bronze medals.

In domestic time trial competition, Burton was almost unbeatable. She won the Road Time Trials British Best All-Rounder Competition for 25 consecutive years from 1959 to 1983. In total, she won 72 national individual time trial titles; she won four at 10 miles (the championship was inaugurated in 1978), 26 at 25 miles, 24 at 50 miles and 18 at 100 miles. Her last national solo time trial titles were achieved in 1986 (at 25 and 50 miles).

She also won a further 24 national titles in road racing and on the track: twelve road race championships, and 12 pursuit titles. In 1967, she set a new 12-hour time trial record that surpassed the men's record of the time and was not superseded by a man until 1969. While setting the record she caught and passed Mike McNamara who was on his way to setting the men's record.

She also set about 50 new national records at distances of up to 100 miles; her final 10, 25 and 50-mile records each lasted 20 years before being broken, her 100-mile record lasted 28 years, and her 12-hour record still stands today.

Back to the Tour, and Mike reminded his audience that Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win, in 2012.

The success of the Tour enabled the owners of L'Auto to drive Le Velo out of business in 1904. Mike said that now the Tour is a both a vehicle of consumerism and has grown to be the greatest free show on earth watched on TV by half of the world's population.

In answer to a question, Mike opined that the best way to promote cycling was for cars to slow down!

Bill Griffiths had the pleasure of presenting Mike with the usual token of appreciation at the end of an interesting talk .

The next general meeting of Todmorden U3A is at 1.30 pm on Thursday 18 December at Central Methodists, Todmorden. This will be a festive meeting including a quiz and Punch and Judy show. Details of group meetings are on u3atod.org.uk or phone 01706 557791

 

Many thanks to John Bouttell for this report

 

 

Previous U3A reports on the HebWeb

HebWeb News: Life in La Serenissima, Venice - Kathryn Ogden (9 July 2014)

HebWeb News: University of the Third Age: The Machine that Changed the World (25 February 2014)

HebWeb News: University of the Third Age: Music and the Deaf (12 February 2014)

HebWeb News: University of the Third Age: Psychology and You - Part Two David Groves made a welcome return as a speaker at the October Todmorden U3A (26 October 2013)

HebWeb News: Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, A Short History was recounted by Ray Riches to the University of the Third Age. (28 Aug 2013)

HebWeb News: John Sheard, retired land agent to the Duke of Devonshire, gave his third talk to members of the U3A, this time on Sir Joseph Paxton, Knighted Gardener (26 July 2013)

HebWeb News: Off Stage Choices: Andrew Rawlinson recounts his theatre experience from Tod Operatic to General Manager of a leading Theatre Group. (18 July 2013)

HebWeb News: The Story of the Hebden Bridge Calendar (April 2013)

HebWeb News: Changing Times in the Press (March 2013)

HebWeb News: Cancer from Both Sides (Nov 2012)

HebWeb News: Steve Halliwell outlined the history of the Woodland Trust (Sept 2012)

HebWeb News: Ray Riches talks on Walking the Pacific Crest Trail (Aug 2012)

HebWeb News: Pitch and Pythagoras - Pulse and Prison (July 2012)

HebWeb News - Lord Shutt explains the workings of the House of Lords (May 2012)

HebWeb News - Claire Benedict talks acting to Todmorden U3A (April 2012)

HebWeb News - Kate Moreton-Deakin spoke about her day job as Associate Director - Corporate Social Responsibility with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Fair Trade Movement (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Fancy a cruise to the Antarctic? (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Gail Allaby, U3A's Queen of the Underworld (Dec 2011)

HebWeb News - September meeting report - Report of meeting about Walking the Pacific Crest Trail

HebWeb News - August meeting report - Bolton Abbey

HebWeb News - May and June meeting report - Keep Learning: Live long and prosper and the role of the Lord-Lieutenant

HebWeb News - April meeting report - Belt and Braces - An Everyday Guide to Risk and Chance

HebWeb News - March meeting report - Growing Old in the Twenty-First Century