Brian Robinson (cyclist)
Robinson at the 1960 Tour de France
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Brian Robinson |
| Born |
3 November 1930 Mirfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1954 | Ellis Briggs |
| 1954–1955 | Hercules |
| 1956 | Meulenberg |
| 1956 | La Perle–Coupry |
| 1956 | Cilo–Saint-Raphaël |
| 1957–1958 | Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop |
| 1959 | Elswick Hopper |
| 1959 | Saint-Raphaël–R. Geminiani–Dunlop |
| 1960–1961 | Rapha–Gitane–Dunlop |
| 1962 | Saint-Raphaël–Gitane–R. Geminiani |
| 1963 | Peugeot–BP–Englebert |
| Major wins | |
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Brian Robinson BEM (born 3 November 1930) is an English former road bicycle racer of the 1950s and early 1960s. He was the first Briton 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.
Robinson's grew up during the Second World War, which began when he was eight years old.
His family lived in Ravensthorpe and moved to Mirfield in 1943. Both his parents worked at a factory producing parts for Halifax bombers, Henry at night and Milly by day. The family had a small area of land, known as an allotment, where they kept rabbits and two pigs. Robinson had a brother, Des, and a sister, Jean.
Robinson rode with the Huddersfield Road Club at 13 and joined when he reached the club's minimum age the following year. His elder brother, Des, and his father were already members. His father, however, would not let Robinson start racing until he was 18. His first race was a hilly 25-mile time-trial in March, which he completed in 1h 14m 50s. His ambition was not to ride against the clock, but in massed road races. Opportunities were limited. Views on British road racing were polarised between the British League of Racing Cyclists, which wanted road racing on open roads, and the National Cyclists' Union, which feared police and public reaction and confined racing to closed circuits.
Robinson was an NCU member. He worked for the family building business, training before and after work, and frequently raced on roads in Sutton Park, Birmingham, where races had to end by 9.30 am so the public could use the park. In 1948 he went to Windsor to watch the Olympic Games road race in Windsor Great Park "little realising that four years later I would make the next Olympics in Helsinki".
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