Barry Hoban

Yorkshireman Barry Hoban was one of the pioneering British cyclists in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s and was certainly better known in France and Belgium than he was in Britain. Hogan started racing in the mid-1950s, and after competing at the 1960 Roma Olympics, where the British pursuit quartet was beaten by Denmark in their only heat, he left UK shores in 1962 to race as an independent semi-professional before signing his first professional contract with the crack Mercier-Hutchinson-BP team in 1964. That year he won two stages in the Vuelta a España and that heralded the start of a successful and lucrative career on the continent for Hoban.

Between 1967-75 Hoban won eight stages in the Tour de France, a record by a British rider that stood until 2009 when beaten by Mark Cavendish. Hoban´s first Tour stage win was on the 201.5km 14th stage from Carpentras to Sète on Bastille Day 1967, the day all French cyclists want to win the Tour stage. As it was the day after Tom Simpson´s untimely death on Mont Ventoux, however, the other riders agreed that a Briton should lead them over the line and win the stage. That “honour” fell to Hoban, who was seen crossing the line alone, with tears streaming down his face. The following year Hoban became the first British rider to win a Mountain stage in the Tour.

In addition to his successful Tours, Hoban did well in the Classics and one of his greatest moments was in beating the leading Belgians Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck in a sprint finish to win the Ghent Wevelgem one-day race in 1974. Fifty years later he remained the only Briton to win the race. Hoban won 32 leading races abroad and finished third in two of the sport´s biggest one-day races: Paris-Roubaix (1972) and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (1969).

After nearly 20 years as a professional, Hoban retired in 1981. He was turned down for the post of British national coach and subsequently returned from his Ghent home to Wales to work at the Coventry Eagle cycle factory that made bikes bearing his name. Hoban had previously returned to Britain, in December 1969, to marry Tom Simpson´s widow Helen, and he returned again in 1981 to take part in the National Professional Road Race Championship when he finished third behind Bill Nickson. In fourth place, with the same time as Hoban, was Mick Morrison, younger brother of OMM Ian Morrison!!!