Manx Trophy
The Manx Trophy or Isle of Man International Road Race is a bicycle road race run annually on the Isle of Man. In the 1960s the race attracted the world's top professional cyclists including Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx.
Race details | |
---|---|
Date | June |
Region | Isle of Man |
English name | Manx Trophy |
Discipline | Road race |
Competition | Premier Calendar |
Type | Single day race |
History | |
First edition | 1936 |
Editions | c. 54 |
First winner | |
Most wins | (2 times) |
Most recent |
The race was a feature of the Isle of Man cycling festival, an annual event which ran from 1936 to 2003 and was started by journalist and cycling enthusiast Curwen Clague. The first festival included a massed-start road race (a rarity in mainland Britain at the time but allowed in the Isle of Man, a self-governing crown dependency) which featured the top riders of the day. Despite closed roads the race saw many crashes and only a few riders finished. The first winner was Charles Holland of Birmingham, later one of the first two Englishmen to ride the Tour de France.
The first event involved riders racing a single lap of the famous TT circuit of 37.75 miles (60.75 km). The course runs from Douglas to Ramsey then climbs for 5 mi (8 km) to a high point on the mountain of Snaefell at 1,384 ft (422 m) before descending to Douglas. The distance was later increased to two and then three laps (113 mi or 182 km).
The Manx Trophy was reintroduced in April 2016 as a one-day race by Manx International Cycling Ltd, named the Manx International Cycling GP, forming part of the British Cycling Spring Cup over 3 laps of the TT Mountain Circuit, and in 2017 hosted the National Road Race Championships where Steve Cummings won both the National Time Trial and Road Race events. In 2019 the event was relaunched as a 3 day stage race forming part of the HSBC UK|British Cycling National Mens Road Race Series.
Winners (not a complete list)
- 1936 Charles Holland
Great Britain - 1937 Jack Fancourt
Great Britain - 1938 Pierre Chazaud
France - 1939 Bill Messer
Great Britain - 1940-1945 - no event -
- 1946 Jean Baldessari
France - 1947 Jean Baldessari
France - 1948 Alan W Barnes
Great Britain - 1949 Desmond Robinson
Great Britain[1] - 1956 Ercole Baldini
Italy - 1957-1958
- 1959 Seamus Elliott
Ireland - 1960 André Darrigade
France - 1961 Jo de Roo
Netherlands - 1962 Rudi Altig
Germany - 1963 Tom Simpson
Great Britain - 1964 Seamus Elliott
Ireland - 1965 Jacques Anquetil
France - 1966 Wim Schepers
Netherlands - 1967 Tom Simpson
Great Britain - 1968 Arthur Metcalfe
Great Britain - 1969 Jan Harings
Netherlands - 1970 Barry Hoban
United Kingdom - 1975 (Bill Nickson) (GBR)
- 1971 (Bernard Bourreau) (FRA)
- 1972-1977
- 1978 Steve Lawrence
Great Britain - 1979 Steve Joughin
Isle of Man (Manx Road Club) - 1980 John Herety
Great Britain - 1982 Joe Waugh
United Kingdom - 1983 Hans Reis
Switzerland - 1984 Mark Walsham
Great Britain - 1985 Paul Curran
Great Britain - 1986 Brian Fowler
New Zealand - 1987 Darryl Webster
Great Britain - 1988 Paul Curran
Great Britain - 1989 Wayne Randle
Great Britain - 1990 Tim Hall
Great Britain (Liverpool Mercury CC) - 1991 Christophe Mengin
France - 1992 David Hourigan
Ireland - 1993 Brian Smith
Great Britain - 1994 Simeon Hempsall
Great Britain - 1995 Robert Millar
Great Britain (run as the British professional road race championship) - 1996 David McCann
Ireland - 1997 Christophe Morel
France - 1998 John Tanner
Great Britain - 1999 David Millar
Great Britain - 2000 Julian Winn
Great Britain - 2001 Matthew Stephens
Great Britain - 2002 David McCann
Ireland - 2003 Mark Lovatt
Great Britain
as Manx International Cycling GP (www.manxinternational.com)
- 2016 Ian Bibby - NFTO
Great Britain - 2017 Steve Cummings - Team Dimension Data
Great Britain (ran as the HSBC UK British Cycling National Road Championships) - 2019 Matt Holmes - Madison Genesis
Great Britain (ran as the Cycle360 Manx International Stage Race)
References
- Atkinson, Neil (21 December 2015). "Tributes to Mirfield Olympic cyclist Desmond Robinson who has died aged 87". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 29 April 2017.