BRITISH PROFESSIONAL/ELITE WORLD CHAMPIONS
1965 - Tom Simpson - Road 1994 - Chris Boardman - Time Trial 2003 - David Millar - Time Trial
BRITISH AMATEUR/U23 WORLD CHAMPIONS
1922 - Dave Marsh - Road 1967 - Graham Webb - Road
They have a plethora of track championships ... And I believe a goodly number of Olympic medals (gold and otherwise) as well.
BRITISH STAGE WINS IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE
1958 - ROBINSON Brian - Saint-Brieuc - Brest 1959 - ROBINSON Brian - Annecy - Châlon-sur-Saône 1965 - WRIGHT Michaël - Lyon - Auxerre 1967 - HOBAN Barry - Carpentras - Sète WRIGHT Michaël - Metz - Strasbourg 1968 - HOBAN Barry - Grenoble - Sallanches-Cordon 1969 - HOBAN Barry - Mourenx - Bordeaux HOBAN Barry - Libourne - Brive 1973 - HOBAN Barry - Montpellier - Argelès HOBAN Barry - Bourges - Versailles WRIGHT Michaël - Nice - Aubagne 1974 - HOBAN Barry - Avignon - Montpellier 1975 - HOBAN Barry - Angoulême - Bordeaux 1983 - MILLAR Robert - Pau - Luchon 1984 - MILLAR Robert - Pau - Guzet-Neige 1988 - YATES Sean - Liévin - Wasquehal 1989 - MILLAR Robert - Cauterets - Superbagnères 1994 - BOARDMAN Chris - Lille-Euralille - Lille-Euralille 1995 - SCIANDRI Maximilian - Bourg d'Oisans - Saint-Etienne 1997 - BOARDMAN Chris - Rouen - Rouen 1998 - BOARDMAN Chris - Dublin - Dublin 2000 - MILLAR David - Futuroscope 2002 - MILLAR David - Lavelanet - Béziers 2003 - MILLAR David - Pornic - Nantes
On 07/14/2004 05:17 PM, "themaaslands@comcast.net"
<themaaslands@comcast.net> wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>
>> I was poking around the NYT's TdeF web site, they have a page of all the
>> previous riders to win, place, or show.
>> To this observer, conspicuous in their absence are riders from the UK. I
>> find this odd given the depth of bicycle culture in the UK, the number of
>> fine riders and frame builders that come from there. Even Kazakistan is
>> represented!
>
> I made this exact point not long ago. Britain was perhaps the instigator of
> cycling and of most bicycle racing. They are also one of the longest existing
> members of the international governing body of international bicycle racing.
> As long standing members, they have always had a say in the determination of
> the international race calendar, as well as what are considered the most
> important race disciplines. This does not however mean that they have been
> overly successful. In fact, given the number of cyclists and the amount of
> activity and the ingrained bicycle culture, their results must be deemed as
> mediocre at best. While not quite as pronouncedly negative as the Tour
> results, the World Championship results of Britons are also sparse. My own
> personal belief is that the limitation of massed start races in Britain is
> largely the cause.
>
> If you however limit the results to the years up to and including 1983 (CR
> deadline), you will however find the following results:
>
>
>> AUSTRIA (1 podium)
>> BELGIUM (49 podiums)
>> COLUMBIA (none)
>> CZECHOSLOVAKIA (none)
>> DENMARK (none)
>> FRANCE (91 podiums)
>> GERMANY (1 podium)
>> IRELAND (none)
>> ITALY (28 podiums)
>> KAZAKISTAN (none)
>> LATVIA (none)
>> LITHUANIA (none)
>> LUXEMBOURG (10 podiums)
>> NETHERLANDS (13 podiums)
>> POLAND (none)
>> PORTUGAL (2 podiums)
>> SPAIN (10 podiums)
>> SWEDEN (1 podium)
>> USA (none)
>
> On a per capita basis, the real stars are the Belgians and the Luxemburgers.
> The absence of the Eastern European countries is readily explainable as they
> were simply not permitted to participate in professional races. The first
> American to participate only came in the 1980's (Jonathon Boyer), so they
> obviously didn't get any results prior to the 1980's (but have since made a
> huge impact). What surprises me is that riders from Australia had 14
> participations, New Zealand 3, Japan 2 (in the 1920's!) in the pre-1983 tours
> against the one single American's appearance.
--
Steven L. Sheffield
stevens at veloworks dot com
veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
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