Jeffrey Williams (born 18 August 1958) is an English former professional road racing cyclist from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He rode for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, and won several national championship titles.

Cycling career

In 1979 Williams won his first

British National Hill Climb Championships The British National Hill Climb Championship is a hill climbing competition held annually by Cycling Time Trials with the location varying year on year. The first edition was in 1944 and it has been won by some of the best all-round British cycli ...

setting a new course record that still stands to this day. A rival, Andy Hitchens, who remembers it well, said: "Williams looked like he'd been on starvation rations for months — he was built like a sparrow. Some people assume that there was a howling tailwind that day, but there wasn't. It was sunny, but cool.” In 1980 Williams joined the

Manchester Wheelers' Club Manchester Wheelers' Club is a cycling club in Manchester, in north-west England. Formation and early history The club was formed on 7 July 1883, as Manchester Athletic Bicycle Club, the name being changed to Manchester Wheelers' Club in 1890. Th ...

and was expected to win International honours during the next two or three seasons. Later that year he won his first stage in the Sealink International finishing four minutes clear. However Williams was left disappointed in the National Hill Climb Championships that year beaten into second place by

Malcolm Elliott Malcolm Elliott (born 1 July 1961) is a former English professional cyclist, whose professional career has lasted from 1984 to 1997 when he retired and from 2003 up to 2011 when he made his comeback in British domestic racing. Known as a sprin ...

by only one fifth of a second after being knocked off his bike whilst

warming up 'Warming up' is a part of stretching and preparation for physical exertion or a performance by exercising or practicing gently beforehand, usually undertaken before a performance or practice. Athletes, singers, actors and others warm up before s ...

and receiving a

broken nose A nasal fracture, commonly referred to as a broken nose, is a fracture of one of the bones of the nose. Symptoms may include bleeding, swelling, bruising, and an inability to breathe through the nose. They may be complicated by other facial frac ...

and severe

bruising A bruise, also known as a contusion, is a type of hematoma of tissue, the most common cause being capillaries damaged by trauma, causing localized bleeding that extravasates into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Most bruises occur clos ...

. At the age of 21 Williams competed for

in the individual road race at the

1980 Moscow Olympic Games The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. He was sponsored by Harry Hall Cycles. Williams finished 47th, alongside

Stephen Roche Stephen Roche (; born 28 November 1959) is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de Fr ...

. At the end of the 1980 season Williams publicly declared his intention of living and racing in France for the 1981 racing calendar with a view to turning professional therefore joining the French club ACBB (Athletic Club de Boulogne Billencourt), Europe's most successful

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

. In 1982 Williams completed a unique double, of the British Road Race Championship and Hill Climb Championship becoming the first person ever to do so in the same season. Williams competed in the individual road race at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. In 1986 he joined

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

riding with

Paul Sherwen Paul Sherwen (7 June 1956 – 2 December 2018) was an English professional racing cyclist and later a broadcaster on cycling, notably the Tour de France. He raced in seven editions of the Tour, finishing five, and gained a reputation for his abi ...

, Mark Bell,

Paul Watson Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American conservation and environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine conservation activism. Th ...

and

Jon Clay Jonathan Clay, better known as Jonny Clay (born 26 June 1963) is a British former professional cross-country, track and road racing cyclist. A silver medalist in the individual pursuit at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Clay was also part of the ...

. Williams retired at the end of the 1987 season. He was famed for his hill climbing ability and considered by many to be one of the most exciting riders, he scaled the heights throughout his career, but also plumbed the depths.

Trivia

Williams starred in the intro for the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

coverage of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

throughout the late 80s to mid 90s (see video ). The music was composed by

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist in 1977 wh ...

of the Buzzcocks.

Family Links

Jeff was brother-in-law to fellow

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

cyclist Peter Longbottom (13 May 1959 – 10 February 1998). He is also the younger brother of Mike Williams a former professional rider.

Palmarès

;1979 : 1st Tour of the Peaks : 2nd Archer Grand Prix : 2nd Overall,

Premier Calendar The British Cycling Premier Calendar Road Race Series is a season-long competition run by British Cycling. It comprises a series of road bicycle races for the country's top domestic road riders. Organisation and events In 2010 points were awar ...

: 1st

;1980 : 1st stage 5, Sealink International : 1st Archer Grand Prix : 1st Tour of the Peaks : 1st Tour of the Pennines (pro-am) : 1st stage 2, Yorkshire Classic (Harrogate) : 2nd

: 47th

, Road race ;1981 : 1st Porthole Grand Prix : 2nd

Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers is a road bicycle race held annually near Lillers, a commune in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. The editions 1964-1995 were reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, it is rated 1.2 on the UCI Europe Tour Th ...

: 2nd Paris – Ezy : 2nd Tour of the Peaks : 1st stage 2, Sealink International : 1st

;1982 : 4th Overall, Circuit des Ardennes : 4th Overall, Sealink International :: 1st stage 5, Sealink International : MaillotReinoUnido

Winner of the

British National Road Race Championships The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually. History Between 1943 and 1958, two separate bodies – the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC) and t ...

(Amateur) : 2nd Archer Grand Prix : 2nd Overall,

: 16th

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, Road race : 1st

;1983 : 2nd Hanley : 6th Tour of the Cotswolds ;1984 : 15th Overall,

Milk Race The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...

;1985 : 2nd

(Amateur) ;1986 : 3rd Wrekin : 12th Overall,

: 60th Overall,

Nissan Classic The Tour of Ireland (Irish: Turas na hÉireann, known from 1985 to 1992 as the Nissan Classic) was a bicycle stage race held in August, which ran for 35 editions over a 56-year period. Irish rider Seán Kelly recorded the most wins, four. Th ...

;1987 : 1st Newby

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jeff 1958 births Living people English male cyclists Commonwealth Games competitors for England Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Cyclists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1982 Commonwealth Games British cycling road race champions Sportspeople from Manchester People from Gorton