Bike Racing

[Marco]

Wiggins, TdeF, 2012 I believe?

Nope.

[PeteS]

Nope.

I had a feeling that I would hear the QI klaxon with that...

[PeteS]

So now I am assuming some race in the early days of British professional cycling was a 3 week tour?

[Marco]

So now I am assuming some race in the early days of British professional cycling was a 3 week tour?

I'll give you two big clues. It was after 1982, and the race is a bona fide, long established European tour that's still going.

I'm sure Graham will have the details in his old Cycling Weekly collection. Somewhere

[PeteS]

Still don't have a clue. I'll have a punt at Robert Millar given the year but no idea which race

[Marco]

Still don't have a clue. I'll have a punt at Robert Millar given the year but no idea which race

If you'd said Robert Millar in the 1985 Vuelta a España I'd have given you half marks. (There was some serious cheating by officials, and unsportsmanlike behaviour from the riders, in this race to deprive him of the win that was rightfully his.)

I'm hoping Graham, or anyone else for that matter, will have a punt before I tell you tomorrow.

[Graham Breeze]

If you'd said Robert Millar in the 1985 Vuelta a España I'd have given you half marks. (There was some serious cheating by officials, and unsportsmanlike behaviour from the riders, in this race to deprive him of the win that was rightfully his.)

I'm hoping Graham, or anyone else for that matter, will have a punt before I tell you tomorrow.

I have no idea. I know about Kelly and Roche of course but they were born in the Republic of Ireland and so aren't British.

I met Roche at the TDF hanging around for the peloton, near Bourg D'Oisans.

I suspect his great year was fuelled by EPO whereas Kelly was just a much better rider. One can compare and contrast their post-retirement subsequent careers and reputations and in that competition I think Kelly is the one with his hands in the air and Roche is beating his bars. When he isn't sticking a needle into an effigy of Kelly that is.

And poor Robert? Yes he was cheated, yes he was naive but that was the person he was - unlike Roche who had a dagger to hand when needed.

[Marco]

In the build up here is a quiz question:

Who was the first British professional cyclist to win a three week tour?

If you find this easy, can you state the race and year?

The answer is Cayn Theakston, who won the 1988 Volta a Portugal (Tour of Portugal)

Before 1995 La Vuelta a España started in April, and finished in May. On occasions it finished after the start of the Giro d'Italia, preventing anyone from riding them both. The one advantage of this was that it enabled space in the race calendar for a fourth three week tour at the end of the season. By the early 1990s the Volta a Portugal was a two week race, and La Vuelta a España got moved to follow it at the end of the season, leaving just three three-week tours.

[Llani Boy]

[QUOTE=Marco;683438]The answer is Cayn Theakston, who won the 1988 Volta a Portugal (Tour of Portugal)

Never heard of him Marco. I wonder if he is a member of the brewing family?

[Graham Breeze]

[QUOTE=Marco;683438]The answer is Cayn Theakston, who won the 1988 Volta a Portugal (Tour of Portugal)

Thank you.

I've now looked at Wikepedia and received an education.