Peter Crinnion

Peter Crinnion’s cycling career flourished in the early part of 1960 when the County Wicklow born rider won three of Ireland’s four domestic qualifying events and the national championships road race to cement his place on his country’s first Olympic cycling team since 1928. He made a good start to the road race and was riding in the main peloton when he was brought down by other riders crashing in front on him. Crinnion chased down the pack but paid for his efforts and was subsequently dropped. The 1960 road race is famous for its vagueness and inaccuracy in the results and, while Irish Olympic Committee sources list him as an implausible 45th of 50 finishers, the Official Rresults list him as a non-finisher. A photograph taken from the stands show him crossing the line alone but with his path blocked by preparations for the medal ceremony.

In 1961 he joined the French Margnat-Rochet-Dunlop team and made his débuts in such races as Milan-San Remo and Paris-Nice as a support rider to the team’s better-known riders. His performances earned him a move to the Urago-Pestrina team and it was there that he had his best season in 1962. Crinnion became the first non-Frenchman to win the Route de France (the amateur version of the Tour de France), finished second in the Grand Prix de France time-trial and strengthened the Great Britain team at the Tour de l’Avenir.

A largely forgettable 1963 saw him return to the Margnat team as a domestique to Tour de France winner Federico Bahamontes and a prospective second season with the team was ruled out by a change in regulations that limited the numbers of foreigners who could be registered with a French team. At the end of the year he received an offer to join Raymond Poulidor at the prestigious Mercier-BP-Hutchinson team but he had already agreed to join the Belgian Lamont-Libertas outfit. When Lamont-Libertas collapsed in mid- season after the team manager embezzled their funds, Crinnion’s career as a top-class professional was effectively over. He rode for two more seasons, and then retired and moved back to Ireland.

Crinnion turned to coaching and administration, which culminated in him being Ireland’s cycling team manager at the 1980 Olympics in Moskva. Amongst the riders on the Irish team was future Tour de France winner Stephen Roche and Crinnion acted as a mentor and personal coach to the Dubliner and helped him negotiate his first professional contract.