Tony Doyle MBE 1958-2023

looks back on the life of an Luke Edwardes-Evans track and six-day rider of the 1980s outstanding

Twice professional pursuit world champion and winner of 23 six-day races, Tony Doyle has died after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 64.

Doyle was a professional for 15 years, from 1980 to 1995, riding for UK-based teams on the road but representing Great Britain on the track as a professional.

But it was as a six-day rider that he achieved lasting acclaim with 23 wins from 139 starts, something that remains a British record. Nineteen of those wins were with Australian Danny Clark, which remains the third most successful six-day partnership on record.

His two professional pursuit world titles came in 1980 and 1986 and he was also an eight-time national pursuit champion (three times amateur, five times professional) and four-time pursuit, three-time Madison and double omnium European champion.

A multiple winner on the road in the UK, especially in the white hot 1980s Kellogg's city centre criteriums, ensured Doyle was rarely out of the headlines throughout the decade.

Olympic payback