Alan Ramsbottom

Alan Ramsbottom (30 April 1936 – 5 April 2023) was a professional racing cyclist from Clayton-le-Moors, England, who twice rode the Tour de France.

Ramsbottom was a talented amateur in Britain in the late 1950s.

He decided to race abroad when he wasn't selected for the Olympic Games of 1960 and moved to Troyes, France in 1961, after seeing an advertisement by the local club, UV Aube, for British riders.

The club was run by Marcel Bidot, the French national team manager.

Ramsbottom was inspired by meeting Britain's leading professional rider, Brian Robinson, at a cycling club dinner in Blackburn.

Living in Ghent gave him the chance to ride more criteriums, the round-the-houses races where professionals in the 1960s made much of their money.

He won the second stage of the Tour de l'Avenir in France in 1961, then turned professional and rode for the Pelforth-Sauvage team for 1962 and 1963.

The team was advertised as riding Lejeune bicycles but Ramsbottom's was the Harry Quinn he had ridden as an amateur, sprayed in Lejeune colours.

He came 45th in the Tour de France in 1962 as a first-year professional.

and 16th in 1963.

He finished eighth in Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1963.

and 11th in the Flèche Wallonne in both 1963 and 1965.

Bidot told Ramsbottom to think more of himself, to attack more and to force Pelforth to raise his salary.

He won the Tour de Haute-Loire in France in 1964.

He came fourth in Nice-Genoa, third in the Boucles Rouquevairoises.

Ramsbottom planned to ride the Tour de France again that year but Pelforth dropped him from its team because of what Ramsbottom said was a misunderstanding between him and the manager, Maurice De Muer:

In 1964 he moved from Troyes to Belgium to join Tom Simpson in the Peugeot team But after that, he said, nothing went right.". He fell while training with another British professional, Vin Denson, caught his hand between cobbles and broke an arm. He said:

He came third at Meerbeke in 1964 and third in London, at Crystal Palace, where he, runner-up Seamus Elliott and winner Tom Simpson lapped a field of mainly domestic professionals.

He didn't get in Peugeot's team for the Tour de France in 1965.

He came second in a criterium at Wortegem, Belgium and at Zele and third at Aartrijke in 1965.

In 1965, Ramsbottom rode the Grand Prix des Gentilhommes at Lille with the journalist Jock Wadley.

The race paired current riders with former racers or leisure riders in a two-man time-trial.

Wadley called him:

Ramsbottom said the pain of his disappointment on the Continent "lessened over the years".

Ramsbottom died on 5 April 2023, aged 86.

In 1966 he returned to Britain because a glut of unemployed professionals on the Continent pushed wages lower than he thought necessary for a married man with two children.

He moved to Great Harwood, Lancashire and went back to his former trade as a sewing machine mechanic, working in textile factories.

At weekends he rode for domestic professional teams, in 1966 and 1967 for Viking Cycles.