Hugh Porter

Britain has always produced outstanding track cyclists, and in the 1960s and 1970s Hugh Porter added to that list, as he became not only one of Britain´s finest, but also one of the world´s best. A former Wolverhampton draughtsman, Porter won the National Amateur Pursuit title three years in succession 1963-65 and captured the bronze medal at the 1963 World Championships at Rocourt, Belgium. Suffering from a bad cold, Porter failed to win a medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics after being eliminated in the individual pursuit quarter-final by the eventual bronze medallist Preben Isaksson of Denmark. Porter did, however, win the gold medal at the 1966 Kingston (Jamaica) British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Despite being a pursuit champion, Porter never specialised in one aspect of the sport and was at home on both the track and the road in time trials, stage races or six day races, and, towards the end of his career, he was involved in cyclo-cross, and was even short-listed for the British team for the 1976 World Championships. Porter competed in the Tour of Britain Milk Race three times and in 1966 won the fifth stage, and was ninth in the overall classification.

Porter turned professional with the Mackeson Whitbread team in 1967 and finished second in that year´s professional pursuit at the World Track Championships before winning the first of four titles at Roma in 1968. Porter was the champion again on home soil at Leicester in 1970 and two years later won at Marseille before winning his fourth world title at San Sebastián, Spain, in 1973. He was also second and third respectively in 1969 and 1971. His tally of four wins was not broken until 2022 when Italy´s Filippo Ganna won his fifth title.

Porter took part in the 1968 Tour de France but unfortunately his appearance was short-lived. After being the best-placed British rider in seventh place after the prologue, he finished more than 12 minutes behind the race leader Charly Grosskost of France after the first stage and pulled out of the race.

Porter married Olympic swimmer Anita Lonsbrough. They met on the plane on their way to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and got married the following June. After his retirement at the age of 39 in October 1979, Porter became a cycling commentator on British television. He was awarded the MBE for his services to cycling in 1972 and in 2010 was one of 51 people to become the inaugural inductees into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.