Barry Hoban, considered one of British biking’s finest, died on Saturday 19 April aged 85.
The Yorkshireman spent 19 years as knowledgeable bicycle owner within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, largely using for Mercier-Hutchinson. Till Mark Cavendish, he was Britain’s most profitable Tour de France rider, successful eight levels between 1967 and 1975, together with two levels of the Vuelta a España. He stays the one British rider to win Gent-Wevelgem.
He additionally held the file for many Excursions accomplished by a British rider – 11 – till Geraint Thomas broke it final season. Hoban’s palmarès additionally counts third-place finishes at each Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Paris-Roubaix, the latter being the efficiency he thought-about his finest.
“One of the best trip I ever did… Paris-Roubaix, 1972,” he instructed Biking Weekly in 2020, when he was given CW‘s lifetime achievement award. “In ’72, I used to be flying. I used to be proper up there with everybody. [Eddy] Merckx, [Roger] De Vlaeminck, [Eric] Leman, all of the top-notch riders going by the Arenberg Forest. You by no means need to puncture within the Arenberg — I did. I misplaced two minutes earlier than a team-mate gave me his wheel,” recalled Hoban.
“I went, and I rode… boy — I used to be passing folks as if they have been stopped,” he mentioned of his chase again to the group, however he then wanted his again wheel changing once more.
“I put my arm within the air, the crew automotive screeched to a halt, I received a again wheel. So I had one other chase once more. By the point I received again, De Vlaeminck had gone.”
Hoban launched one other chase however by no means did fairly catch eventual winner De Vlaeminck, or André Dierickx, who additionally attacked.
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“I do know completely nicely, that day, with out that puncture, it might have been a distinct story. I most likely spent about 50K of that race chasing to get again on — I nonetheless completed third,” he mentioned.
Hoban grew up in Yorkshire across the Leeds-Wakefield space, and joined native membership Calder Clarion at an early age, initially as a sprinter, earlier than discovering he might climb. Aged 22 he headed to continental Europe in search of a professional profession, one thing which got here after two years within the Unbiased ‘semi-pro’ class with Bertin-Porter39-Milremo.
Becoming a member of Mercier-BP-Hutchinson in 1964, Hoban went on to have a storied profession, racing the likes of Merckx, and a younger Bernard Hinault, in addition to being a teammate of Raymond Poulidor.
He was good pals with Tom Simpson, Britain’s first world champion, and was there the day Simpson died on Mont Ventoux in 1967; Hoban was allowed to win the following day’s stage in tribute.
Hoban went on to win Tour levels in 1967, 1968, two in 1969, two in 1973, 1974 and 1975, alongside two Vuelta stage wins in 1964, and Gent-Wevelgem in 1974, when he out-sprinted Merckx and De Vlaeminck.
“I used to be fantastically positioned,” he mentioned many years later. “And the dash’s going flat-out at that time, however I used to be blocked. I used to be praying: ‘open up, open up’… And Leman and De Vlaeminck opened a niche. Effectively, I did not should be instructed twice… I went by that hole like greased lightning.”
Tributes to Hoban got here from all corners of the biking group on Sunday. Former British nationwide champion Adam Blythe known as him “one of many all-time greats”, whereas commentator Ned Boulting remembered him as a “champion bicycle owner”.
Elsewhere, photographer Graham Watson mentioned he was a “real legend from the glory days of previous, and a hero to so many future execs”. Creator William Fotheringham, who devoted a chapter to Hoban in his e book Roule Britannia, mentioned the previous professional was “an actual pioneer, the primary British street sprinter to beat Europe”.
Hoban is survived by his spouse Helen, daughter Daniella, step-daughters Jane and Joanne Simpson, and a brother and sister.
Biking Weekly‘s ideas exit to pals, household, and all those that knew Barry Hoban.
