Philip Bayton (born 18 September 1950) is a former

road cyclist Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws as ...

from

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 is ...

, who was a professional from 1973 to 1989.

Amateur

Bayton joined the Stourbridge Cycling Club as a boy where, after a year of club rides, he started racing. Joining the Thornhill Cycling Club in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

he won a handicap race at

Hirwaun Hirwaun is a village and community at the north end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is NW of the town of Aberdare, and comes under the Aberdare post town. At the 2001 census, Hirwaun had a populati ...

in South Wales as a 16-year-old junior and a year later was part of the GB Olympic squad under

Norman Sheil Norman Leslie Sheil (22 October 1932 – 25 October 2018) was a racing cyclist who won world pursuit championships for Britain in 1955 and 1958 and rode the Tour de France in 1960. He became national coach of the British Cycling Federation an ...

. After finishing third in third in the Star Trophy Series on 1970 and 1971, he finally won the Star Trophy in 1972 which led to him being selected for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. After being part of an 80-mile breakaway, he initially finished 5th in the road race, ahead of teammate Phil Edwards won the bunch sprint to finish 6th. However, after Spanish rider Jaime Huelamo failed a drug test, he was later moved up to 4th.

Professional

Struggling to fund his racing career at a time when strict amateur rules prevented any kind of cash prize however small, Bayton found himself having to turn professional, joining Raleigh for the 1973 season with his friend Dave Lloyd. The pair came to the notice of the Italian media with an epic 100 mile breakaway lasting five hours at the

Milan–San Remo Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...

race which led to an invitation to the Baracchi Trophy two-up time trial. Together they finished third behind Felice Gimondi and Martin Rodriguez in front of 50,000 fans in the

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

football stadium. Bayton turned down a move to the Belgian-based Watney's squad in 1974, regretting it by the end of season when he left Raleigh to work at the

Russell Hobbs Russell Hobbs is a British manufacturer of household appliances. Formed in 1952 by William Russell and Peter Hobbs, it became the primary kettle maker in the United Kingdom marketplace in the 1960s. Subjected to many corporate acquisitions thr ...

factory in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

with the intention to retire from pro-racing. However his career was saved by

Hugh Porter Hugh William Porter MBE (born Wolverhampton, England, 27 January 1940) is one of Britain's greatest former professional cyclists, winning four world titles in the individual pursuit - more than any other rider - as well as a Commonwealth Games ...

who convinced him to join him at Bantel with whom he finished 3rd in the national road race. In 1982, Bayton finally won the national criterium title at Newport in South Wales, beating Moducel rider Phil Corley in a sprint after the pair had lapped the rest of the field.

Team Management

After Bayton retired from racing, he managed the Everready-Halfords team that on the British professional circuit in the late 1980s.

Children

He has four children Kelly, Grant, Luke and Joseph Bayton.

References

External links

* * Phil Bayton: British Legend, ''Cycling Weekly Magazine issue October 17th, 2013'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayton, Phil 1950 births Living people English male cyclists Cyclists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Great Britain People from Kingswinford Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley