OLD MEMORIES ...
Article Published : 05/01/10
Well, here's a blast from the past and probably my best ever victory as it was a pic of me winning the second stage of the GP William Tell (1972) in Switzerland (The Amateur Tour of Switzerland, which I went on to win overall) and was the pre-Olympic 10 day stage race with ALL the Munich Olympic teams taking part.. The Russians, Poles, Czechs, French, Belgians, Italians ... the lot .... and this was a day that Phil Bayton and I were going to pack !
We had gone to the William Tell Grand Prix completely under-funded by the BC and we couldn't even afford a full breakfast.. The team would "raid" the feeding wagon before the start of each stage to get enough food inside us to last the stages! You can also see how great the GB Jerseys were that we were forced to wear.. Mine was about 4 sizes too big for me and I had to tie it in a knot at the front to stop the rear pocets dangling over the back of the saddle (NICE!!) In any case, Bayton and I decided we were going to rebel and pack at the feed station on the second day. It was pouring with rain for the first two days and we were completely cheesed off with the whole of the GB team officials (except for Eddie Soens who was there as our masseur!) and the lack of money. So we made the packing "pact"! Then, blow me if Bayton didn't get into the break from the gun and "flick" me.. I was so insensed, I attacked the peleton and crossed to the break alone and went straight past them to win the stage and take the Yellow Jersey (which was Blue!) as Overall Leader.
I lost the jersey after puncturing in the first time trial and took the Jesey back by winning the final hilly Time Trial by 1 minute and got the overall victory.. THIS WAS MY BEST PERFORMANCE AS AN AMATEUR RIDER!!
The pic has been worked on by my old mate Derek Boocock who still has more work to do on it to get it a bit sharper.. IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO !!! (38 YEARS TO BE PRECISE!!)