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A cycling legend and one of the most successful Britons to take up the sport, Anthony ‘Tony’ Doyle MBE died from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 64, only four weeks after his diagnosis on 30 April, 2023.
road.cc has an obituary for the beloved icon, courtesy of the Doyle family:
Tony’s illustrious racing career brought unmatched success to British track cycling in the 1980s-90s – twice World Pursuit Champion, four-time European Champion, pioneering British winner of 23 Six Days and many other titles. Competing in the days before cycling had wide media exposure, Tony Doyle is a legend in the cycling community.
Tony’s cycling journey started in 1972 at age 14, when he joined his local Clarence Wheelers cycling club. In 1979, he moved to Metz, France, and spent a season racing on the continent. Shortly after his arrival, Tony won his first race, the 130km Prix Pinchi at Bouligny, going on to win a further 11 races in his first exposure to continental racing.
In 1980, he claimed his position as Britain’s leading track cyclist by winning the 5km Individual Pursuit in the 1980 World Championships at Besancon and, extraordinarily for a rookie professional, his first World Championship.
We’re deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former British Cycling President and world track champion, Tony Doyle MBE.
Our thoughts are with Tony’s family and many friends at this time. Full obituary to follow.
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) May 5, 2023[1]
Tony used his World Championship as a springboard to participate in his first professional Six Day, the Skol 6 in Wembley, describing it as a baptism of fire. Tony’s ambition was to become the first Briton to crack the continental Six Day circuit – a very few had won individual races, but nobody had yet mastered the Six Day, still less dominated the events as Tony was destined to do. He won his first Six Day in 1983 at Berlin, the first time a Brit had won a Six Day since 1972.
In the 1988-89 season, Doyle, with his teammate Danny Clark won five of the seven Six Days. Ultimately, Tony remains the most successful British Six Day competitor ever.
In the 1986 Championships, Tony was up against his long-standing rival Hans Henrik Oersted, who had beaten him in the previous two years’ finals. By the 4km mark, with 1km to go, Oersted had a lead of two seconds, and it seemed like the race was over. However, Tony put in one of the sport’s greatest ever counter-attacks and completed the final kilometre in just 1 minute 5.91 seconds. Oersted could not respond, and Tony Doyle had become World Champion once again, winning by a margin of 1.946 seconds.
The whole of British Cycling was jubilant, at a time when there wasn’t much success to cheer on the track.
Tony Doyle at the 1986 world individual pursuit championship’s, Colorado Springs. pic.twitter.com/r8C78WF81Q[2]
— cycling archives (@mission753) May 8, 2023[3]
In November 1989, Tony suffered a traumatic injury whilst racing at the Munich Six Day. He fell head-first and remained in a coma for eight days, with his shoulder broken in five places and his elbow broken in two. It was predicted that he would be unable ever to return to professional racing. He had to relearn the most basic tasks, including how to walk and eat.
However, within just three and a half months, he was back on the road and went on to win the 1990 Munich Six Day. He raced for a further four years, eventually retiring due to a back injury sustained at the Zurich Six Day in 1994.
Awarded an MBE in 1989 for services to cycling, Tony mentored and supported many younger riders, and visited countless schools to encourage the children into cycling as a pastime and competitively. He was a technical innovator, being the first to use for example the solid wheel, the wind tunnel, and the application of continuous meticulous tiny improvements to all aspects of equipment and training to improve performance.
After retiring, Tony later served as president of British Cycling, was the founding director of the Tour of Britain and played a significant role in sports promotion and media.
Anthony is survived by his partner Adriana Alessi, his children George, Gemma and James and their mother Anne.
References
- ^ May 5, 2023 (twitter.com)
- ^ pic.twitter.com/r8C78WF81Q (t.co)
- ^ May 8, 2023 (twitter.com)