Thursday, 7 June 2012

T2T - What's in a name?

If you've taken a look at my page with the live tracking for Tower 2 Tower you'll have seen that all the teams are named after famous British professional cyclists so here are some more details about each of them.

Tom Simpson


Until 2011 and the victory of Mark Cavendish, Simpson was Britain's only World Road Race Champion winning the title in 1965 (and BBC Sports Personality of the Year just like Cavendish). In 1962 he became the first Britain to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and finished 6th overall - the highest placing by a Brit until 4th place finishes by Robert Millar in 1984 and Bradley Wiggins in 2009.

Simpson's major wins include two stages of the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain), Paris-Nice in 1967, Milan-San Remo and Giro di Lombardia in 1965.

The County Durham rider infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France.The post mortem found that he had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a combination that proved fatal when combined with the heat, hard climb and a stomach complaint.

Mark Cavendish MBE


The 'Manx Missile' is the current World Road Race Champion riding for Team Sky Professional Cycling in the coveted rainbow jersey. Originally a track cyclist specialising in madison, scratch and points race, he has competed on the road since 2006 rising to prominence as a sprinter.

On the track Cavendish was World Madison Champion in 2005 and 2008 with Rob Hayles and Bradley Wiggins respectively and won gold in the scratch race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games riding for the Isle of Man.

On the road Cav's achievements are phenomenal. Winner of the points classification in the Vuelta a Espana in 2010 and the Tour de France in 2011 (first Britain to win the green points jersey). Joint 6th on the all time list of Tour de France stage winners with 20 victories and 10th on the list of all time grand tour stage winners with 33 stage wins. Only the second Brit to win Milan-San Remo, the first Brit to wear the pink jersey at the Giro D'Italia (Tour of Italy). Only the second Britain, after Robert Millar to win a stage in all three grand tours.

All in all Cavendish has 81 professional wins on the road since turning pro in 2007 compared to second place on the list Chris Boardman with 41 wins between 1993 and 1999.

Mark Cavendish was the only member of the 2008 British Olympic Cycling Team that failed to come home with a medal.

Bradley Wiggins CBE


The son of a professional Australian cyclist, a British mother and born in Ghent in Belgium, current British road race champion Bradley Wiggins could have competed for either of those three nations.

Now based in Lancashire, Wiggins began his career on the track as a specialist in the pursuit and the madison. On the track he won a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the 2000 Athens Olympics, gold in the individual pursuit, silver in the team pursuit and bronze in the madison at the 2004 Sydney Olympics and gold in the individual pursuit and team pursuit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He turned professional on the road in 2002 but this side of his career was limited by his track cycling until 2007.

In 2009 Wiggo showed his grand tour potential by finishing fourth in the Tour de France (joint highest placing with Robert Millar in 1984) famously riding up Mont Ventoux with a picture of Tom Simpson taped to his top tube for inspiration.

In 2010 he moved to Team Sky Professional Cycling and followed that with a disappointing 24th in the Tour de France leading to speculation that his result in 2009 was a fluke.

2011 saw Wiggins win the Criterium du Dauphine, the first British rider since 1990 to do so, proving that he had good form for the Tour de France but a crash on stage 7 saw him abandon with a broken collar bone. After healing Wiggins returned to race the Vuelta a Espana finishing 3rd behind team mate and compatriot Chris Froome becoming only the third Britain to make the podium of a grand tour (Robert Millar being the other). Ten days later he won a silver medal in the World Time Trial Championships before going on to ride as part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish take the road race world title.

Bradley Wiggins again appears to be on good form in 2012 having become the first British rider in 45 years to win Paris-Nice, also winning the Tour de Romandie and currently leading the Criterium du Dauphine by 38 seconds.

Matt Cronshaw


We have named our spare tracking device after a young professional with a bright future (waiting in the wings you might say).

24 year Matt from Carnforth, is currently riding for Node 4 Giordana Racing under the guidance of British cycling legend Malcolm Elliott having previously ridden for Rapha Condor Sharp and Raleigh. Matt is a superb bike handler (despite his two crashes in this years Halfords Tour Series), who is well suited to criteriums and has a fearsome sprint having already taken some decent scalps.

Career highlights so far have included 1st place in Tour of Blackpool Grand Prix and 1st place on stage 4 of the Tour de Beauce in 2009, 1st place on stage 1 of the Tour Doonhame in 2011 and 6th in OCBC Cycle Singapore Professional Criterium in 2012.

Cronshaw is currently the North West road race race champion and a regular in the Halfords Tour Series.

Apart from being a professional cyclist Matt describes himself as a 'successful repeller of women with a penchant for camel skin briefs'.



No comments:

Post a Comment