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| In the 1960s Tom Simpson achieved the sort of fame as a cyclist that would later come to the likes of Chris Hoy and Chris Boardman. But his career was to end tragically early, at the age of just 29. Unlike Hoy and Boardman, his greatest achievements did not come in the Olympic Games, or even the Commonwealth Games - although he did win a bronze medal in the team pursuit event on the track in Melbourne in 1956. Instead Simpson, who took up cycling after his family moved to the mining village of Harworth in Nottinghamshire, made his name as a professional cyclist, on the continent, in the Tour de France and by winning the world road race title (pictured) in 1965, the last Briton to win before Mark Cavendish in 2011. That led to him becoming BBC Sports Personality of the Year – the only cyclist to achieve that before Chris Hoy, and Cavendish in 2011. But Simpson’s life was cut short when he collapsed in extreme heat on the slopes of the 6,000 foot Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France in 1967. A post-mortem found amphetamines and alcohol in his blood, forcing into public consciousness the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport. A memorial to Tom Simpson was built on the mountain. A similar monument stands by the entrance to the Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club near where he grew up. Inside the club there is a large display cabinet containing the bike on which he won a race in France, his kit the day he died, newspapers reporting his death, his Great Britain shirt when he won the world title, medals, trophies, and a collection of family and press photographs. On the opposite wall is a record of his triumphs and a visitors’ book showing that ‘Mr Tom’ is far from forgotten. ____________________________________________________________ Simpson is one of the cyclists featured in the main exhibition hall at the National Cycle Collection at Llandrindod Wells in Mid-Wales. There are also exhibits about post-war world champions Reg Harris and Beryl Burton, Barry Hoban (the only Briton to have won consecutive stages of the Tour de France until Mark Cavendish in 2008), and the 1992 Olympic champion Chris Boardman, who is represented by his reserve bike and racing skin from the Barcelona Games. |
