Jimmy Michael
 |
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Jimmy Michael |
| Born |
18 August 1877 Aberaman, Wales |
| Died | 21 November 1904 (aged 27) |
| Height | 5 ft 1 1⁄2 in (156 cm) |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Track |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Stayer |
| Professional team(s) | |
| Simpson Chain Company | |
| Gladiator | |
| Major wins | |
| Welsh championships at five and 50 miles. 1894 – Surrey Hundred in World Record time 1895 – World motor-paced champion (Cologne) 1895 – Equalled Linton's record for 50 km. |
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Jimmy Michael (18 August 1877 – 21 November 1904), was a Welsh world cycling champion and one of the top riders in the sport for several years.
Jimmy Michael was 5 ft 1 1⁄2 in (156.2 cm) tall. He was born in Aberaman, Cynon Valley, Wales. His parents had a butcher's shop in the town and he started cycling when he was 12. His first successes were at sports meetings in Glynneath and Mountain Ash. He went on to win larger meetings in Cardiff, Newport and Merthyr. He also won Welsh championships at five and 50 miles.
Michael went to London in July 1894 to ride the Surrey Hundred at Herne Hill velodrome. Mal Rees, writing in Sporting Cyclist after an interview with Michael's brother, Billy, said:
The crowd laughed to see such a 'David' having the temerity to start in a race of that length against so many six-footers. Cycling chroniclers of the day, reporting on the event, were astounded as the Welsh boy matched every attack in the hectic early stages. 'Who was this youth who dared to hang on to London's speediest riders?', they wrote. In the first hour, 24 miles 475 yards had been covered and 'the little hero' Jimmy Michael dogged the heels of the leaders until he succeeded in breaking away himself to lap the field at 46 miles.
At two hours, with 48 miles 377 yards covered, he was just outside the record, but at the 50-mile mark was inside with 2h 4m 42s. There seems to have been no serious threat during the second fifty for Michael consolidated his lead and went on to win in 4h 19m 39s with a seven-minute margin from the runner-up. This was a new record.
His performance brought him two contracts to ride in Paris.
Michael turned professional in 1895 for the Gladiator bicycle company, where he joined Arthur Linton, another rider from his town. Both were coached by Choppy Warburton. Michael became world motor-paced champion the same year at Cologne and equalled Linton's record for 50 km. Linton had a poor year and their relationship soured. Linton's brother, Tom, made some comment in 1896 that prompted this newspaper letter from Michael:
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