Tony Doyle

Tony Doyle was unquestionably the great British track cyclist in the 1980s, when he was also outstanding on the world stage. Doyle took up track racing at the age of 14 and in 1977 won his first national title (individual pursuit). He also won the Madison title with Glen Mitchell that year. The following year Doyle retained his pursuit title and won a bronze medal in both the individual and team pursuit events at the Edmonton Commonwealth Games. A third consecutive national pursuit title followed in 1979 when he also regained the Madison with Mitchell, and added the 50 km points race, to make it six national titles in three years.

Doyle went to the 1980 Moskva Olympics but was not selected for the individual pursuit. The selectors were undecided whether Doyle or Sean Yates should race the individual. Despite Doyle beating Yates in a race-off, the selectors still chose Yates. Doyle was, however, on the British team that set a world record in Moskva as the first pursuit quartet under 4:20. The track was so fast that their time was bettered by other teams and they could only finish seventh.

Immediately after the 1980 Olympics, Doyle turned professional with the KP Crisps-Viscount team and within six weeks had repaid his sponsors by winning both the National and World Pursuit Championships. After retaining his national title in 1981, Doyle turned to six-day racing and in 1983, with Danny Clark, became the first Briton to win a six-day race, at Berlin. Doyle’s other six-day partner was Gary Wiggins, father of five-times Olympic champion Bradley. Doyle won a total of 23 six-day races, 19 of them with Danny Clark, which made them the third most successful six-day combination after Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart (Switzerland) and Gustav Killian and Heinz Vopel (Germany). Doyle won the pursuit silver medal behind Hans-Henrik Ørsted of Denmark at both the 1984 and 1985 World Championships but turned the tables on the Dane in 1986 to win his second world title. Doyle then added a bronze in 1987 and silver in 1988.

In addition to his two world titles, Doyle won four European titles. He won the Madison with Gary Wiggins in 1984 and with Danny Clark in 1988 and 1989. Doyle was also the Omnium champion in 1989. That year he was awarded the MBE for his services to cycling, but later in the year he was involved in a serious crash during the München Six-Day race when the Russian rider, Marat Ganeyev, cut across Doyle and took him down at more than 35 mph (56 kph). Doyle suffered brain trauma, developed a lung infection, and a fractured shoulder blade and broken elbow. To make matters worse, he was dropped off the stretcher by officials while being removed from the scene of the accident.

Doyle was in a coma for 10 days and given the last rites when he got to hospital. It was six months before he returned to competitive racing and in 1994 he won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the Victoria (BC) Commonwealth Games. Injury caused Doyle to finally retire in 1995 when he became president of British Cycling (then the British Cycling Federation) and was race director of the Tour of Britain.

Doyle was also a good road racer and finished second overall in the 1984 Sealink International stage race, just one second behind winner Malcolm Elliott. Doyle also enjoyed success in the Kellogg’s series of city-centre races. Tony Doyle died in 2023 at the age of 64, just four weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer