William Law Bilsland (born 9 November 1945) is a British former professional racing cyclist.

Amateur career

Bilsland began racing in 1963. As an amateur he raced mostly in the UK, especially in his native Scotland. He did though win in continental Europe taking 2 stages of the 1965 Tour of Slovakia. He also won in continental Europe taking 2 stages of the Peace Race in East Germany in 1966. That year he finished 9th in the

1966 Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. They were followed by the 1966 Commonwealth Par ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. He won another stage of the Peace Race in 1967, this time in

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

. He competed in the individual road race at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. In 1969 he raced more prominently in continental Europe, winning a stage and the general classification of the Saint Pourcain 3 day race. He also won a stage of the Tour Nivernais Morvan (finishing second overall in the GC) and of the Tour de l'Avenir. These wis sandwiched a 16th place finish in the World Amateur Road Race Championship held that year in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Professional career

Turned pro in 1970 joining the Peugeot team in France for 3 seasons. He finished 14th in the 1971 World Professional Road race championship, finishing 6 minutes and 51 seconds behind winner Eddy Merckx. In 1973 he joined the TI Raleigh team for 2 seasons.

Post racing career

He retired from racing in 1974. He opened the eponymous bike sho
Billy Bilsland Cycles
in 1980 in Glasgow's Saltmarket, since taken over by his son Neil.

References

External links

* 1945 births Living people British male cyclists Olympic cyclists for Great Britain Cyclists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Cyclists from Glasgow {{UK-cycling-bio-stub