In the finale of one 1986 Nissan Classic stage, the Irish crosswinds were howling and the race was on. Sean Kelly and the rest of the bunch were in the gutter, finding shelter. Except for one man for all seasons, competing with an eye on the forthcoming winter track season. He moved a metre out of the paceline and stayed there. His peers moved behind to get some cover. After finishing in Limerick, former world champion Hennie Kuiper shook his head in disbelief and said admiringly: "Ohhh, Tony Doyle." It was a fitting image for an outlier who didn't follow the crowd. Two-time individual pursuit world champion Doyle, who passed away at the age of 64 in April 2023 with pancreatic cancer, was sufficiently tough, strong and stubborn to do things differently.
Frame of mind
Growing up in the Surrey town of Ashford, Doyle showed an early entrepreneurial streak, taking frames from the local dump and selling bottom brackets for a fiver. There was no history of cycling in the family and he was a promising young goalkeeper. He started riding with the Clarence Wheelers at the age of 14 after bumping into a club rider and was taken under the wing of Alf Whiteway.
Whiteway's dogma was training and racing on low fixed gears, teaching how to ride at incredibly high revolutions. Doyle's later 56-minute 25 at Crabwood CC on a 72-inch medium gear became the stuff of local legend. "When Alf, and his idea of how things should be, met Tony, it was this perfect synthesis," Doyle's friend and clubmate Ben Friend says. "I think Tony's success is in no small part due to that."
この記事は Cycling Weekly の September 21, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Cycling Weekly の September 21, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
UK SCENE WILSON WINS AT CLAYTON SPRING CLASSIC HANDICAP
Junior rider Atkins wins North Road CC 25
"I'm Geraint Thomas," he said politely."And I'm a bike rider"
The Doc salutes the Welshman's staying power and charm
AN EXPERT'S TAKE ON...STRENGTH TRAINING
The need-to-know essentials for cyclists lifting weights - Rob Kemp asks an expert
NOURISH TO FLOURISH
The nutrition you need to age-proof your performance
THE WORLD'S FASTEST DESCENDER
DOWNHILL MAESTRO SAFA BRIAN TELLS MARIA DAVID HOW HE MASTERED THE ART OF DESCENDING TO BECOME FASTER THAN EVERYONE EXCEPT, PERHAPS, TOM PIDCOCK
VISION METRON SL 60
Super-stiff, responsive race wheels that hold their line when the wind whips up
RIDDEN AND REVIEWED GIANT TCR ADVANCED O £3,699
Lively all-rounder that offers pro bike pedigree without the premium price tag
Six days of Paris
This is one of those images that makes you feel almost as though you're there in it, soaking up an atmosphere heavy with embrocation and cigarette smoke, those hanging lamps creating a ghostly glow across the arena.
Alberto Dainese's BMC Teammachine R
We take a close look at the Italian sprinter's Tudor Pro Cycling team bike
Pogačar has fun in the desert
World champion wins UAE Tour overall, with some chaos on the way
