British cycling legend Barry Hoban dies aged 85

Barry Hoban, one of British cycling's best, died on Saturday 19 April aged 85.

The Yorkshireman spent 19 years as a professional cyclist in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly riding for Mercier-Hutchinson. Until Mark Cavendish, he was Britain's most successful Tour de France rider, winning eight stages between 1967 and 1975, along with two stages of the Vuelta a España. He remains the only British rider to win Gent-Wevelgem.

He also held the record for most Tours completed by a British rider - 11 - until Geraint Thomas broke it last season. Hoban's palmarès also counts third-place finishes at both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Paris-Roubaix, the latter being the performance he considered his best.

"The best ride I ever did… Paris-Roubaix, 1972," he told Cycling Weekly in 2020, when he was given CW's lifetime achievement award. "In '72, I was flying. I was right up there with everyone. [Eddy] Merckx, [Roger] De Vlaeminck, [Eric] Leman, all the top-notch riders going through the Arenberg Forest. You never want to puncture in the Arenberg — I did. I lost two minutes before a team-mate gave me his wheel," recalled Hoban.

"I went, and I rode… boy — I was passing people as though they were stopped," he said of his chase back to the group, but he then needed his back wheel replacing again.

"I put my arm in the air, the team car screeched to a halt, I got a back wheel. So I had another chase again. By the time I got back, De Vlaeminck had gone."

Hoban launched another chase but never did quite catch eventual winner De Vlaeminck, or André Dierickx, who also attacked.

"I know perfectly well, that day, without that puncture, it would have been a different story. I probably spent about 50K of that race chasing to get back on — I still finished third," he said.

Hoban grew up in Yorkshire around the Leeds-Wakefield area, and joined local club Calder Clarion at an early age, initially as a sprinter, before discovering he could climb. Aged 22 he headed to continental Europe in search of a pro career, something which came after two years in the Independent 'semi-pro' class with Bertin-Porter39-Milremo.

Joining Mercier-BP-Hutchinson in 1964, Hoban went on to have a storied career, racing the likes of Merckx, and a young Bernard Hinault, as well as being a teammate of Raymond Poulidor.

He was good friends with Tom Simpson, Britain's first world champion, and was there the day Simpson died on Mont Ventoux in 1967; Hoban was allowed to win the next day's stage in tribute.

Hoban went on to win Tour stages in 1967, 1968, two in 1969, two in 1973, 1974 and 1975, alongside two Vuelta stage wins in 1964, and Gent-Wevelgem in 1974, when he out-sprinted Merckx and De Vlaeminck.

"I was beautifully placed," he said decades later. "And the sprint's going flat-out at that point, but I was blocked. I was praying: 'open up, open up'... And Leman and De Vlaeminck opened a gap. Well, I didn't need to be told twice… I went through that gap like greased lightning."

Tributes to Hoban came from all corners of the cycling community on Sunday. Former British national champion Adam Blythe called him "one of the all-time greats", while commentator Ned Boulting remembered him as a "champion cyclist".

Elsewhere, photographer Graham Watson said he was a "genuine legend from the glory days of old, and a hero to so many future pros". Author William Fotheringham, who dedicated a chapter to Hoban in his book Roule Britannia, said the former pro was "a real pioneer, the first British road sprinter to conquer Europe".

Hoban is survived by his wife Helen, daughter Daniella, step-daughters Jane and Joanne Simpson, and a brother and sister.

Cycling Weekly's thoughts go out to friends, family, and all those who knew Barry Hoban.