Boardman used the Lotus 108time trial bicycle designed by Mike Burrows and built by the sports car manufacturer Lotus. Later he worked with the UK carbon fibre bike specialist Hotta, to produce other time-trial frame designs, which he raced in various events including world championships, and Olympic games. He is now involved in producing commercial and competition bikes with the Boardman Bikes and Boardman Elite ventures.
Boardman has also worked to promote walking and cycling across the UK, becoming Greater Manchester's walking and cycling commissioner in 2017, Greater Manchester's Transport Commissioner in 2021 and most recently, Commissioner of Active Travel England.
Boardman was educated at Hilbre High School in Wirral, Merseyside, and rode in his first bike race at the age of 13. He was on the national cycling team by the age of 16.[4]
Boardman won his first national time trial title in the 1984 "George Herbert Stancer" schoolboy 10-mile championship and subsequently won the 1986 junior 25-mile championship. He also broke the junior 25-mile national record in 1984.[citation needed]
As a senior he won four consecutive hill climb championships (from 1988 to 1991), five consecutive 25-mile championships (from 1989 to 1993), the 50-mile championship in 1991 and 1992, and the men's British time trial championship in 2000. He broke the record for 25 miles in 1992 and 1993 with 45 minutes 57 seconds (which he held until 2009)[5] on a course based on the A34 near Oxford. He was also a member of the winning North Wirral Velo team in the 1993 100km team time trial championship (in a record time of 2:00:07), having previously won the event three times with Manchester Wheelers' Club, in 1988, 1989 and 1991.
Having started his cycling career as a time trial specialist, Boardman turned professional with the GAN team, later renamed the Crédit Agricole team, of manager Roger Legeay. His first race as a professional was the 1993 Grand Prix Eddy Merckx, a 66km time trial which he won. He further won several stages of the Midi Libre and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage races, including the final road stage. In 1993 Boardman established the fastest time for a bicycle around the 37.73 mile Snaefell Mountain Course, the course used for the Isle of Man TT Races. Riding a specially modified bicycle, Boardman recorded a time of 1hr 23min 54secs. The time recorded would prove to be the longest standing cycling record on the Isle of Man, until it was beaten by Peter Kennaugh in 2015. Kennaugh, riding a standard racing bicycle, beat the record by six seconds.[6]
Boardman competed with Graeme Obree for the hour record using radically modified time-trial bikes, beating each other's records in turn; in one eight-month period in 1994 the record fell four times.[7] Boardman won the prologue of the 1994 Tour de France with what was then the fastest time ever recorded.[8] In the process he caught Luc Leblanc, who had previously been dismissive about Boardman's 1993 hour record, claiming that it could probably be beaten by half the professional peloton.[9] However, he subsequently lost the yellow jersey in a team time trial. He was hailed as the UK's future Tour de France winner, despite his own insistence that it was a long shot. After retirement he said he was not able to recover from the rigours of stage racing due to a low hormone profile. "I've always had it, it's probably been that way since I was born, but because of the type of racing that I did in the past, it was not a problem."
In the 1995 Tour de France, Boardman crashed in the prologue and withdrew due to his injuries. The 1996 Tour de France saw him return in the wet and rainy prologue where he was beaten by Alex Zülle and finished in second place. Boardman won bronze in the 52km road time trial at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He did not defend his track individual pursuit title.
Boardman made a comeback at the 1997 Tour de France, winning the prologue of the Tour once more, although a crash forced him to quit the tour on stage 13.
In 1998 Tour de France, when the Tour began in Dublin, Ireland, Boardman won the prologue, but this time crashed out of the race on stage 2.[10] In 1998 he was diagnosed with osteopenia due to low testosterone levels.[11] Treatment to prevent a worsening of his condition would have required him to take testosterone, which is banned under anti-doping rules. The UCI refused to allow Boardman an exemption on medical grounds. Faced with either retiring to allow treatment for his osteoporosis, or continuing to cycle without taking testosterone, Boardman chose to continue in cycling untreated for a further two years, hoping to finish his career on a high note at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[12]
In 1997 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) had changed their regulations for the Hour Record, restricting competitors to roughly the same equipment that Eddy Merckx had used in the 1970s, banning time trial helmets, disc or tri-spoke wheels, aerodynamic bars and monocoque composite frames. Boardman made an attempt at the Hour Record using this new ruling in 2000 and rode 49.441km, just 13 m further than Merckx's 28-year-old record.[7]
Boardman retired after the Olympics, at the age of 32.[15] In an interview Boardman said that the last two years of his professional career were the most difficult, especially because of his debilitating health condition and also marital issues. Boardman's osteoporosis was uncommon for someone as young as he was. He was criticised for not realising his potential, but in response he said that, "I never considered myself particularly gifted, but I managed to stretch and mould the ability that I have, and found a niche for myself."[citation needed]
Work after retirement
Since retirement from professional cycling, Boardman has undertaken a range of roles including television punditry, advising the British cycling teams and working in walking and cycling advocacy roles.
Boardman was appointed a technical adviser to the British road and track cycling team in 2004, and was equipment and technical manager to the TeamGB cyclists at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.[16][17][18]
Boardman has a brand of cycles and accessories under the name Boardman Bikes.[19][20] He is also involved in producing competition cycles through Boardman Elite.[21]
Walking and cycling advocacy
Boardman has worked in various walking and cycling advocacy roles. He first took up these roles after his young daughter asked to ride to the park with him, in the northern seaside town where they lived; Boardman refused, thinking it too dangerous. He said it felt very wrong that he, an ex-Olympic cyclist, did not feel he could keep his child safe on a one-minute 550m ride, so he decided to do something about it.[22]
He is an advocate of policies to greatly increase utility cycling in the United Kingdom, citing the potential to reduce the 35,000 annual deaths from obesity-related diseases, and urging that in road traffic accidents there be a presumption of guilt on the driver of the larger vehicle.[23] In July 2016, his mother Carol was killed by a motor vehicle while cycling;[24] the driver was jailed for causing death by dangerous driving.[25][26]
Boardman was appointed Greater Manchester's first Cycling and Walking Commissioner by Andy Burnham in July 2017.[27] He developed a plan to create 1,800 miles of protected walking and cycling routes.[28] In May 2021, he became Greater Manchester’s first Transport Commissioner.[citation needed]
Boardman was appointed as Interim Commissioner for the government's new cycling and walking body, Active Travel England, in January 2022,[29] and permanently as Commissioner from June 2022, leaving his role at Greater Manchester.[30]
Television pundit and commentator
Boardman has worked as a contributor to cycling programmes on both BBC and ITV, including commentary at the Olympics Games and at the Tour de France.
Personal life
Boardman lives with his wife and six children in his native Wirral. In 1992, he was awarded an MBE for services to cycling.[31] In 2009 Boardman took part in the London marathon, finishing in 3hrs 19min 27sec. He was also inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.[32]
Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the 1973 Tour de France and the 1970 Vuelta a España. During the 1971 Tour de France he launched an amazing solo breakaway that put him into the Yellow Jersey and stunned the rest of the main field, including back to back Tour champion Eddy Merckx, but abandoned in the fourteenth stage after a crash on the descent of the Col de Menté. Ocaña would abandon many Tours, but he finished every Vuelta a España he entered except for his first, and finished in the top 5 seven times in a row.
Raymond Poulidor, nicknamed "Pou-Pou", was a French professional racing cyclist, who rode for Mercier his entire career.
Miguel Induráin Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. Induráin won five Tours de France from 1991 to 1995, the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five-time winner to achieve those victories consecutively.
Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov, nicknamed Eki, is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the title of Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001.
Hendrik "Erik" Dekker is a retired Dutch professional road racing cyclist active from 1992 until 2006. He was a member of the Rabobank cycling team from 1992 till 2006. From 2007 to 2015 he was one of Rabobank's team managers.
Hendrik Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de France history with 62,885 km ridden. He won the 1979 Vuelta a España and the 1980 Tour de France.
Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.
Bradley John McGee is an Australian former professional racing cyclist. He is currently the head coach of the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS). He started cycling in 1986 at the age of ten. He lives in Sydney and in Nice, France.
Francesco Moser, nicknamed "Lo sceriffo", is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition.
Jens Voigt is a German former professional road bicycle racer and, upon retirement, became a cycling sports broadcast commentator. During his cycling career, Voigt raced for several teams, the last one being UCI ProTeam Trek Factory Racing. Voigt wore the yellow jersey of the Tour de France twice, though he was never a contender for the overall title owing to the mountainous nature of the stages of the race being better suited to climbing specialists. His career achievements include winning the Critérium International a record-tying five times and a number of one-week stage races, as well as two Tour de France stage victories. In September 2014, he set a new hour record.
Erik Breukink is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, finished 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France. Most recently, he served as the manager of the Rabobank team.
Abraham Olano Manzano is a Spanish retired professional road racing cyclist, who raced as a professional from 1992 to 2002. He won the World Road Championship in 1995, and the World Time Trial Championship in 1998, becoming the first male cyclist to win both.
Marc Wauters is a Belgian former cyclist who was professional from 1991 until 2006. The 2004 Olympian, nicknamed The Soldier was a member of the Rabobank cycling team of the UCI ProTour since 1998 and had to end his career several weeks short because of a broken collarbone which he suffered during a training on 20 September 2006.
Charly Mottet is a French former professional cyclist. He was one of the best French road cyclists of his era.
Ferdinand Bracke is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist who is most famous for holding the World Hour Record (48.093 km) and winning the overall title at the 1971 Vuelta a España in front of Wilfried David of Belgium and Luis Ocaña of Spain. He also became world pursuit champion on the track in 1964 and 1969.
Franciscus ("Frans") Albertus Antonius Johannes Maassen is a directeur sportif. He was a professional road racing cyclist between 1987 and 1995. He completed seven Tour de France stage races, including the 1990 Tour de France where he was involved in the Stage 1 breakaway that caused the rest of the race to be the most surprising Tour in over a decade. He was the only one of the four breakaway riders not to wear the maillot jaune, but he won the stage. He twice won the Tour of Belgium, and won the 1994 Tour de Luxembourg.
Thierry Marie is a French former cyclist. Marie often performed well in prologue stages: he won the Tour de France prologue three times in his career, and because of that he wore the yellow jersey in those three years, for seven days in total. He also competed in the team time trial event at the 1984 Summer Olympics. On stage six of the 1991 Tour de France Marie rode alone for six hours and 234 km to win the stage and set the record for the longest post-war successful breakaway.
Armand de Las Cuevas was a French racing cyclist.
Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, track cyclist and directeur sportif. He is an uncle of Frank Vandenbroucke. He was a prologue specialist, winning 19 prologues throughout his career.
References
↑ "FAQ's". Boardman Bikes. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
