Catalogue_FINAL_1.3

Barry Hoban
British Professional Road Cyclist
Tour de France 1964 - 1978
Barry Hoban. Tour de France 1969. 9th July. Stage 11 - Briançon to Digne. Hoban sits by the side of the road waiting for a new wheel to
arrive from his support team. Photo: Offside / L’Équipe.
“The main favourite was my childhood hero - the great Jacques
Anquetil. As an amateur I tried to ride in the same style as
Jacques - toes pointing down, no body movement.
He had the perfect position.”
Barry Hoban, 1964
IN 1964, after two years riding as an Independent [semi
pro], which was akin to today’s pro continental, I got my
first pro contract, riding for Mercier BP, alongside team
leader Raymond Poulidor. Antonin Magne was our sole Team
Director. During the 1960’s, teams usually comprised sixteen
or eighteen riders. So unlike today - when teams have thirty
riders, and five Directeur sportifs - we raced on one front.
Most races required ten riders. During that year, the Tour
de France had eighteen riders per team. If you had good
form, you would ride every race - from Paris-Nice to the
Tour of Lombardy. This was certainly too much for a first
year pro like me.
So after a build up from Paris-Nice, and the Tour of Spain
[Vuelta a España], which was held at end of April, into
early May, when I won both the 12th and 13th stages, I was
selected for the Tour. The main favourite was my childhood
hero - the great Jacques Anquetil. As an amateur I tried to
ride in the same style as Jacques - toes pointing down, no body
movement. He had the perfect position. Raymond Poulidor
would also be a challenger, along with Frederico Bahamontes
[The Eagle of Toledo], Even though I had a good sprint,
and had won three races prior to the Tour, I was like all the
others - at the service of Raymond Poulidor. We would keep
him out of the wind, pace him, even give him your wheel if
needed, the sprinter had no priority in those days.
It was a great Tour. The total distance was 4,504 kilometres,
much longer than the Tours of today. The longest stage was
311 kilometres - which Jacques Anquetil won, beating Poulidor
by fifty-five seconds. Bahamontes was third. This was the Tour
Poulidor should have won. He made many mistakes, such as
not taking advantage when Anquetil was in difficulty. In the
end, Anquetil won his fifth Tour - the first rider to do so.
This was also his last victory.
My 1964 Tour had been eventful - I was beaten on the
line in Bordeaux by a flying André Darrigade, with a 10th
and 12th placing in the two big time trials. My next Tour
was in 1967, when the event had reverted back to National
teams. This was also the tragic Tour when Tom [Simpson]
died on the slopes of the Mont Ventoux.
I then had an unsettled few years. I was almost burnt out
by the amount of racing I did in my first year as a pro, but
started to come back into my own towards the end of 1967
- where I just lost out to another hero of mine in the annual
Paris-Tours race - beaten by half-a-wheel by Rik Van Looy,
the Emperor of Herentals.
By 1968 I was on the way up, and the Tour de France was
once again formed of National Teams. It was a retrograde
step to revert back to National Teams - as many riders would
only ride if it were trade teams. This included cyclists like
Eddy Merckx. Still, the Tour was our bread and butter. Ride
a good Tour and you had the contracts for the Criteriums [a
bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit].
This is where we made our money. Your main contract just
kept you. The Criteriums put money in the bank. But they
were not easy. The 1968 Tour would finish on a Sunday, and
the first criterium was on the Monday evening in Normandy.
So quite often I have ridden for seventeen days with no break.
After the Tour, with nineteen races, two days, afternoon and
evening, we averaged around 4,000 kilometres a week, often
driving to get to them.
The British team in 1968 was not a strong one. It was
mostly made up of home-based pros, so I knew I would have
to do my own thing. It turned out OK. I was Second in
Bordeaux, on 7th July. And Third in Bayonne the following
day. Then finally a win on stage 19, 18th July, Grenoble to
Sallanches. This was not a sprint finish. I was on my own for
130 kilometres. I became the first Briton to win a mountain
stage in the Tour de France - with three major Cols to climb
on the stage - Col des Aravis, Col de la Colombière and
Col du Cordon were all on the day’s menu. My criteriums
were assured.
By 1969 the Tour had reverted back to trade teams. Many
of us welcomed this. It was also the start of a new era -
Eddy Merckx had arrived. He dominated his first Tour. Roger
Pingeon was second at 17.54 minutes. And Poulidor third at
22.13 minutes and Gimondi 4th at 29.24mins. That explains
Merckx’s nickname - Le Caniballe. No other rider has won the
Tour this way. He won the Green jersey and the King of the
Mountains jersey, plus his team won the Team Classification.
We were left to pick up the crumbs, which is what I did,
winning back to back stages at Bordeaux and the next day
in Brive, another first for a Brit.
Merckx dominated the Tour through to 1974. He didn’t
participate in 1973, where the classy Luis Ocaña won in style.
New younger riders were also appearing - Bernard Thevenet,
and Lucian Van Impe, another great climber. My career was
also approaching the flamme rouge [A red flag displayed with
one kilometer remaining from the finish line of a race. Usually
suspended over the road]. 1974/1975 were the last Tours
where I won stages, and even Eddy Merckx had to call it a
day. But waiting in the wings was a Breton with guts class
and courage - Bernard Hinault. 1978 was Bernard Hinault
and Sean Kelly’s first Tour, it was also my 12th and last
one. This was a battle between Hinault and my new team
leader Joop Zoetemelk. Hinault proved the strongest. However,
we did win the Team Classification for my farewell. Hinault
went on to win the Tour five times, to join the elite group
with Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx. My personal point
of pride is that I am the only pro cyclist to ride the Tour
de France alongside the first three riders to win five Tours.
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