Les West (born 11 November 1943) was one of the dominant figures of amateur and professional cycling in Britain during the 1960 and 1970s. He won the
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 ...
twice, came second in the world amateur road race championship and fourth in the world professional championship.
Early career
Born in
Hanley
Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.
Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...
,
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, England, West's first ride was to
Danebridge, when he was 15. He went with his uncle.
[''Cycling Weekly'' 13 December 2007] The following year he joined the
Tunstall Wheelers, a club in the
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
conglomeration of towns in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. He won the North Staffordshire 25-mile time-trial championship when he was 16. He beat one hour for 25 miles in 1961 and won North Staffordshire championships at 10, 25, 30 and 50 miles, won the area track league and became five-mile and 4,000m
pursuit champion.
His first international selection was for the
Olympia's Tour
The Olympia's Tour is a cycling stage race held in the Netherlands.
History
A.S.C. Olympia was founded in Amsterdam on 27 November 1898. It ran one-day races but wanted a race through all the Netherlands. The first Olympia's Tour was in 1909, wi ...
, the amateur tour of the Netherlands, in 1964. He was unplaced.
International amateur
West rode the
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 ...
, the
Tour of Britain
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 ...
for the first time in 1965, riding as a late selection for the Midlands. His local bike shop owner jokingly promised him a free bike if he won.
[''Cycling Weekly'', UK, 5 December 1992] West said: "I remember seeing my first Milk Race in
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
. I was about 16. It impressed me. And never did I imagine that I'd ride. My first one was in 1965 and I won it. Circumstances!"
He won the points competition as well but he won overall, he says, only because several riders, including a leading Spaniard, were thrown out in the race's first positive dope tests.
[Luis Santamarina won the stage of the 1965 ]Tour of Britain
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 ...
which started at Scarborough and crossed Rosedale Chimney. He rode away from the race on one of the race's hardest climbs before colliding with the back of a car parked beside the road as an official waited to time him. He remounted and won the stage and led the race. Two days later he and three others were disqualified for doping, and the Spanish team went home. West's prizes for winning were a gold watch and a combined radiogram and cocktail cabinet.
That year he beat the national hour record, set a 25-mile time-trial record, won the Tour of the Cotswolds next day, won the national road championship and came second in the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
International.
In 1966 West lived in the Netherlands, riding round-the-houses races. He said: "Fantastic, that was. Very, very fast." He rode
Olympia's Tour
The Olympia's Tour is a cycling stage race held in the Netherlands.
History
A.S.C. Olympia was founded in Amsterdam on 27 November 1898. It ran one-day races but wanted a race through all the Netherlands. The first Olympia's Tour was in 1909, wi ...
, the amateur tour of the Netherlands, which he said averaged 29 mph. "But Holland left me legless for the climbs on the Milk Race"
and he came sixth. "To me, that was nothing", he said.
That autumn he finished second to
Evert Dolman
Evert "Eef" Gerardus Dolman (22 February 1946 – 12 May 1993) was a Dutch racing cyclist, who won the gold medal in the 100 km team trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, alongside Gerben Karstens, Bart Zoet, and Jan Pieter ...
of the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
in the world championship on the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
circuit in Germany. The two had slipped clear of the field but West cramped in the sprint. He has refused to speak further of Dolman, going little further than saying "Well, he didn't ride exactly clean. At the end he told me so. Let's just say things were not right."
Keith Bingham, writing in ''Cycling Weekly'' went further when he spoke of a rider so ill through the drugs he had taken that he no longer recognised journalists he had known for years. The description approaches Dolman, who was caught for doping as a professional. Dolman said "I couldn't win races without that stuff, that was obvious."
West said an official from the
British Cycling Federation approached him after the championship and said: "Good ride, son. What's your name?"
[Woodland, Les (2005), ''This Island Race'', Mousehold Press, UK, p122] West was to have joined
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964.
He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the y ...
's
Bic team, at the recommendation of British professional
Vin Denson
Vincent Denson (born 24 November 1935) is a former professional racing cyclist who rode the Tour de France, won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and won the Tour of Luxembourg in the 1960s.
He was a team-mate of Rik Van Looy and of Jacques Anquet ...
, but his contract did not arrive and he stayed in Britain.
West won the Milk Race again in 1967, in what Keith Bingham of ''Cycling Weekly'' described as "astonishing style."
Professional
Professional racing had developed in Britain but West held on for 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 var ...
in Mexico in 1968.
He punctured early, waited for the mechanics in the service car behind the last rider, changed bikes twice, chased for 30 miles and gave up. He turned professional for the
Holdsworth
Holdsworth was a bicycle manufacturer in London, England. It was created by William Frank Holdsworth, known as "Sandy", and the brand is now owned by Planet X Limited based in Rotherham, Yorkshire.
History
Sandy Holdsworth took over Ashlo ...
team, managed by a shopkeeper called Roy Thame in west London. It paid no more than he had been winning as an amateur, he said, but there were compensations.
His first win was the Tour of the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, held over three days at
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
. "That's my first pro win and probably my last", he said. He had four more wins and came second nine times.
His best international performance was fourth in the world championship in 1970, held in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
, England. West got into the winning break with Jempi Monseré of Belgium,
Leif Mortensen
Leif Mortensen (born 5 May 1946) is a former Danish professional road bicycle racer. He won a silver medal in the individual road race at the 1968 Summer Olympics while finishing fourth in the team time trial. In 1970–1975 he rode profession ...
and the Italian
Felice Gimondi
Felice Gimondi (; 29 September 1942 – 16 August 2019) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed "The Phoenix", was the ...
. Monseré won and West came fourth, troubled once more by cramp in the sprint. West won the British championship, broke the London-
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, London-
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
-London records, won the Tour of the Peaks and then in 1978 retired as a professional.
[''The West Way'', Winning, UK, undated cutting]
The rule was that professionals had to have a season out of racing before the British Cycling Federation would consider a return to the amateur. West said: "The BCF punished you.... You'd be surprised by how much form and interest you lost. If you'd turned professional it was like you had a disease in them days. So that was it, such is life."
He regretted that amateurs and professionals had not been allowed to ride together. He said: "A few years after I'd packed up racing, they let the pros ride the Milk Race, which could never have happened in the 1970s. It seemed like my generation were punished in that way, and it's a shame because it would have been good all round if we could have ridden it."
He started racing again, as an amateur, in 1980, rode for two years, then retired.
Veteran cycling
West returned to cycling in the veteran class, and remarked on the fact that he was remembered by older neighbours in Stoke-on-Trent but not by others.
In 2003 he dominated the national masters' championship in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
British Cycling, Archives, The Legend that is Les West -- Still a Champion
In September 2006, West became national champion of the League of Veteran Racing Cyclists and rode for GS Strada-Afford Rent-a-Car-Pinarello team which is sponsored by Phil Griffiths. He was 64.
Honours
In 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame
The British Cycling Hall of Fame was established in 2009 as part of British Cycling's 50th anniversary celebrations.
On 17 December 2009, the names of fifty one people involved in cycling to be inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame wer ...
.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Les
1943 births
Living people
English male cyclists
Sportspeople from Stoke-on-Trent
Olympic cyclists for Great Britain
Cyclists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
British cycling road race champions