Donald Allan

In the late 1960s Donald Allan joined the Blackburn Cycling Club in Victoria, Australia, riding several hundred kilometres per week, in addition to working full time. Allan’s cycling career was nearly over before it began when he broke his back in a car crash in 1970. After a remarkable recovery period he was selected to compete at the 1972 München Olympics, finishing 58th in the road race in the main peloton of riders, only two-and-a-half minutes behind the winner. Following the Games he remained in Europe, winning stages of the Tour of Austria, the Peace Race, and the Tour of Scotland in 1973.

Allan was then offered a professional contract with the Dutch team Frisol, riding as a domestique for Hennie Kuiper, who had won gold in the road race in München. In 1974 Allan rode his first Tour de France, helping teammate Kuiper to finish 11th overall. One year later Allan returned to the Tour, finishing 85th, before becoming the first Australian cyclist to win a stage of the Vuelta a España when he won stage 17 of the race in Bilbao. He was forced to withdraw from the 1976 Vuelta after breaking his wrist in a crash, but later rode at the World Championships that year in Italy, finishing ninth in the road race.

Following his road career Allan moved to track cycling, focusing on six-day races. Between 1976 and 1986 he competed in more than 100 races, winning 17 of them, with 15 victories coming with fellow Australian cyclist Danny Clark. The pair also had success at the European Madison Cycling Championships, winning silver in 1976, before taking gold three years later.