![Beryl Burton wins her first road Worlds](https://cdn.magzter.com/1388411064/1720778846/articles/zRQLMq11R1721037336349/BERYL-BURTON-WINS-HER-FIRST-ROAD-WORLDS.jpg)
The front cover headline on the October 1960 edition of Coureur -Sporting Cyclist could not have been more understated. ‘Dual World Champion – Beryl Burton’ ran the simple tagline with a picture of the newly double-crowned champion crouched low over her bike, eyes locked forward.
‘If there’s anything nicer than one world title it’s two,’ Burton said in the short first-person account that appeared in the magazine. ‘I’m thrilled and happy to have won both the pursuit and the road titles… I have my two rainbow jerseys and two gold watches to take home with me.’
The 1960 event was only the third edition of the women’s World Championships Road Race. Burton, born in 1937 in Halton, a suburb four miles east of Leeds city centre, was not part of the six-woman squad Great Britain sent to the inaugural race in 1958. That was won by Luxembourg’s Elsy Jacobs, with Joan Poole the best of the British starters in fifth. Burton made her debut the following year, finishing fifth in the Netherlands behind winner Yvonne Reynders, who would claim four titles between 1959 and 1966.
Burton was at the beginning of a 30-year career that would see her amass seven world titles (two on the road, five on the track), amid a haul of national records and titles too exhaustive to list. She claimed 13 pursuit and 12 road race national titles and won the Best British All-Rounder title, awarded to the nation’s most complete time-trial rider, an incredible 25 years in a row.
‘Beryl the peril’
This story is from the September 2024 - Issue 155 edition of Cyclist UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2024 - Issue 155 edition of Cyclist UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
![Best of both worlds](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/nVCPYL4nU1721043385660/BEST-OF-BOTH-WORLDS.jpg)
Best of both worlds
The new Trek Madone blends the speed of the brand's quickest superbike with the lightness of its mountain-crushing Émonda to become the ultimate race bike
![Eddy Merckx Pévèle Carbon](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/x2X3Pl3r11721041702648/EDDY-MERCKX-PVLE-CARBON.jpg)
Eddy Merckx Pévèle Carbon
A versatile design that shows the pros and cons of flexible build options
![Gravel ride: Girona Welcome to Cycling Central](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/KMpbpeUDm1721041216487/GRAVEL-RIDE-GIRONA-WELCOME-TO-CYCLING-CENTRAL.jpg)
Gravel ride: Girona Welcome to Cycling Central
Girona in Catalonia has become one of Europe's most popular cycling venues thanks to its weather, roads and culture. But it's still possible to leave the hordes behind by going off-tarmac
![Revolutions and evolutions](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/NBZ1jvPsZ1721040850811/REVOLUTIONS-AND-EVOLUTIONS.jpg)
Revolutions and evolutions
The wheel may be a 5,000-year-old invention but designers are still finding ways to make it lighter, faster, safer and more stable.
![Kitzbüheler Horn](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/jcY8cADPH1721040510951/KITZBHELER-HORN.jpg)
Kitzbüheler Horn
The Austrian climb that dishes out pain
![Cycling history in six items](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/Lhm7HAA4Y1721039178966/CYCLING-HISTORY-IN-SIX-ITEMS.jpg)
Cycling history in six items
In the first of a series on cyling's historical artefacts, Cyclist visits the KOERS Museum in Belgium to discover the pick of the exhibits.
![Different times](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/_8qvO9b_p1721038723828/DIFFERENT-TIMES.jpg)
Different times
What was the cycling world like 75 years ago? Now in his midnineties, Scottish former champion Ramsay Mackay remembers those times like they were yesterday
![Big Ride: Alpe d'Huez - Climb and a half](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/jvgulPCf81721037843462/BIG-RIDE-ALPE-DHUEZ-CLIMB-AND-A-HALF.jpg)
Big Ride: Alpe d'Huez - Climb and a half
No climb is as emblematic of the Tour de France as Alpe d'Huez. Ahead of its first appearance at the women's Tour, Cyclist takes a ride around it and up it. And then up it again
![This Olympic Road Race might actually be worth watching](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/UmFY1a2hj1721037675985/THIS-OLYMPIC-ROAD-RACE-MIGHT-ACTUALLY-BE-WORTH-WATCHING.jpg)
This Olympic Road Race might actually be worth watching
A punchy finale around Paris's Butte de Montmartre will bring the excitement usually missing from the Olympic Road Race, says Felix Lowe
![Beryl Burton wins her first road Worlds](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5312/1763503/zRQLMq11R1721037336349/BERYL-BURTON-WINS-HER-FIRST-ROAD-WORLDS.jpg)
Beryl Burton wins her first road Worlds
Beryl Burton claimed the first of two World Championships Road Race titles in 1960, becoming the first rider to win pursuit and road world titles in the same year