Bob Maitland

Robert John Maitland (31 March 1924 – 26 August 2010) was a British racing cyclist.

He won a junior race in Warwickshire, near Birmingham in 1939 and the following year joined the Solihull Cycling Club.He started racing seriously in 1941.

His first road race was over 30 miles near Nottingham in 1943, on a hilly course and in the rain.

He gained 40 seconds on the field but another rider caught him with two of the 28 laps to go and he finished second.

Maitland was an engineer, a reserved occupation in Britain during the second world war.

That meant he could continue racing, although with a reduced calendar of competitions and restrictions on travel.

He rode club events but also set a national tandem record for 50 miles (80 km) with Dick Bowes.

He rode his first massed-start event in 1943, finishing sixth after 30 miles (50 km).

In 1944 and 1946 he came third in the NCU's national road championship, then won in 1948.

He won national championships in Britain, tackled long-distance records, was the best-placed British rider in the 1948 Olympic road race, and rode for Britain in the Tour de France.

His career coincided with a civil war within British cycling as two organisations, the National Cyclists Union and the British League of Racing Cyclists, fought for the future of road racing.

Maitland was born in Birmingham and developed an interest in cycle-racing in his teens.

He collected autographs from pre-war riders such as Eddie Larkin and Charles Holland and sometimes cycled out to watch them ride time-trials, which were then the only cycle races held on the road.

Spectating persuaded him to race.

His first race was the Birmingham Time Trial Association 25-mile event.

He finished in 1h 13m 22s, 10 minutes slower than the winner.

That same year, Maitland won a silver medal as a member of the British road race team at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Other members were Ian Scott and Gordon Thomas.

The Olympic Games in 1948 were in London, the cycling road race held at Windsor.

Maitland was best-placed of the British team.

He said:

Our manager was a guy called Frank Slemen, who was a Liverpool butcher.

He knew nothing about road racing and he admitted it.

We had to sign on a day before the race and any other manager would have insisted the other teams go to the British camp, not the other way round.

So we went to the signing-on by bus and we all got seats except for one of our riders, who had to stand.

Frank could see the officials on the bus all had seats.

So he went to a Dutch official and said his rider was having to stand and asked this guy to give up his seat.

Now, Frank was the strongest guy I've known and when the Dutchman hesitated, he grabbed him by the lapels, lifted him Two Feet in the air and dropped him on the floor.

(Bob Maitland)

Maitland finished sixth and won a medal as member of the second team.

He finished four seconds behind the winner, José Beyaert of France.

The organisers of the Games reported:

Maitland finished third in the NCU's national road championship once more in 1949.

By 1952, Maitland had joined the British League of Racing Cyclists.

He came second in its independent road championship in 1952 and the champion in 1953.

But as a member of the BLRC and an independent or semi-professional, he was no longer eligible to compete at the Olympics.

Maitland rode for Britain in the 1955 Tour de France - the race was then competed by national teams - in a team selected by cycling journalists because the civil war between the National Cyclists Union and the British League of Racing Cyclists made it impossible to leave the job to either.

The team was a mixture of full professionals and riders like Maitland, who were independents.

In 1958, Maitland rode for his own cycling team, Maitland Cycles.

Arthur Ilsley was also a member.