1972 William Tell GP
The amateur Tour of Switzerland ... This must have been my best ever ride as an amateur. It was the pre-Olympic warm up race for Munich and was a BIG 10 day stage race.
ALL the Olympic teams were there from Russia, Poland, Czecho, Holland, Belgium, France etc. etc. All the best riders in the World were there and I took over the lead by winning the second stage alone.
I lost the lead in the first individual Time Trial when I punctured. The last stage was a hilly TT and I began this in 2nd place overall ... Luckily I had Eddie behind me in the following car, because as I was catching my minute man, the Russian Gutiatnikov I lost the plot and was much too anxious and over geared trying to catch him ... Eddie screamed ... "Sit down and change down you idiot!"
I did this and went straight past him ... The finale was a 3 mile steep climb and the Russian came back to me and half wheeled me ... I thought I was going to crack, but Eddie shouted again ... "He's gone ... Attack!"
I thought he had gone mad, but I collected all my reserves and bounced a few times on the pedals and the Russian blew apart completely. He lost 2½ minutes from there to the finish and I won the stage and the overall ... MY BEST WIN ... I couldn't find Eddie at the finish, and after I had gone through the dope testing procedure, I found him in the car park, crying!
The first time I had seen him crying in my life. I knew I had done something very special ... The pic is the finish podium with second placed Jose-Luis Viejo from Spain on my left and Jerzy Zwirko from Poland in third place on my right.
Viejo finished with a Bronze in the Olympic Road Race (where I fell off), only to be stripped of it for doping and unfortunately Zwirko was killed with his coach in a car crash the following year.
Dave's Career in Pictures
Pictures spanning from the start of Dave's cycling career in 1969 to the present day ...