Profile of Brian Robinson on Famous Like Me

Brian Robinson (born 3 November 1930 in Mirfield, Yorkshire) was an English road racing cyclist of the 1950s and early 1960s.

He was one of the first Britons to finish the Tour de France and the first to win a Tour stage. His success as a professional cyclist in mainland Europe paved the way for other Britons such as Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban, and later Robert Millar, Chris Boardman and David Millar.

Early cycling career

Robinson joined the Huddersfield Road Club at the age of 13. However, his father (a Yorkshire undertaker) forbade him from racing until he was 18, and even then the opportunities were restricted. Views on British road racing were polarised between the British League of Racing Cyclists (which wanted to bring road racing on to the open roads) and the National Cyclists' Union (which, while acknowledging the need for 'massed-start', were fearful of police and public reaction, and confined their racing to closed circuits). Robinson was a NCU member.

Robinson worked for the family building business, training before and after work. He was fifth in the NCU massed-start championship and third in the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) hill-climb championship in 1950. The following year, he was equal 7th in the Isle of Man International, 10th in the NCU massed-start championship, and second in the RTTC hill-climb championship. Making steady progress, in 1952 he was fourth in the NCU title race, won the hill-climb championship, and was fifth in the Isle of Man International.

International experience

1952 saw Robinson’s first international trips. In the Spring he rode the Route de France stage race (amateur version of the Tour de France), where he was in a joint NCU/Army team (Robinson was at this time doing his National service). He initially rode well and was lying fifth overall with three days to go, but poor days in the Pyrenees saw him slip to 40th place. The following August, he was selected to represent Great Britain at Helsinki in the Olympic Games road race. Robinson finished in 27th position. The great Jacques Anquetil was 12th, and Robinson raced against him again in the World Cycling Championship in Italy in September 1952 – where they tied for eighth place.

The new professional

In 1953, Robinson left the army and joined the Ellis-Briggs team as an independent. He rode the Tour of Britain in 1952, wearing the leader’s yellow jersey for a while, before finishing an eventual fourth. The following year, 1954, he improved to second place overall, and second in the mountains competition.

First Tour de France

In 1955, Robinson joined Hercules, Britain’s first professional cycling team, which was planning to ride the Tour de France - then based on a national teams format. In preparation, the team raced in France (Robinson was 8th in Paris-Nice), the Netherlands and Belgium, where Robinson finished fourth in La Flèche Wallonne, behind Stan Ockers; he also led the Tour of the Six Provinces up to the sixth stage. The Tour de France proved a tough test for the Hercules team and only Robinson and one other (former naval electrician Tony Hoar) were left in the race by half distance. Behind Louison Bobet, Robinson eventually finished 29th, while Hoar won the lanterne rouge as final finisher (Robinson and Hoar were the first Britons to finish the Tour de France - 18 years after the first Britons attempted the feat: Charles Holland and Bill Burl in 1937).

In 1956, the Tour conditions were varied to allow mixed teams. Robinson joined a squad which included Charly Gaul. He took third place on the first stage, and by the end of the Tour was 14th overall, Gaul 13th.

He also rode the Vuelta a Espana in Hugo Koblet's Swiss-British team, and was Iying second after the fourth stage. He punctured on a climb on the 10th stage when in a break with Italy's Angelo Conterno, the eventual race winner, but managed to recover from 11th overall to an eventual eighth.

In 1957 he scored his first professional win in the GP de la Ville de Nice, beating Bobet by 50 seconds. Then he finished third in the opening Spring Classic Milan-San Remo to Spain's Miguel Poblet. However, he crashed on wet cobbles early in the 1957 Tour de France, injuring his left wrist. He recovered to finish 15th in the world championship won by Rik Van Steenbergen.

First Tour stage win

In 1958, Robinson won stage 7 of the Tour de France (Arigo Padovan actually crossed the line first but was relegated to second for his unseemly tactics in a hotly disputed sprint), though he later retired from the race during the 20th stage. He, however, showed that his victory was no fluke by winning the 20th stage (from Annecy to Chalon-sur-Saone) of the 1959 Tour by a massive 20 minutes, going on to finish 19th on general classification, having at one time been as high as ninth overall.

In July 1959, Robinson was influential in getting his professional Rapha Geminiani team to sign the rising star of British cycling, Tom Simpson. Within weeks, he was watching Simpson win two stages of the Tour de l'Ouest (Tour of the West).

In 1960, Robinson finished 26th in the Tour and in 1961, 53rd. In between he claimed a victory in the 1961 Critérium de Dauphiné Libéré, winning two stages.

Later years

Robinson, now aged 74, is helping to organise a celebratory dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of the first British competitors in the Tour de France. The event, which aims to attract all British riders who have raced in the Tour since 1955, is to be held in August 2005.

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