Graham Jones (cyclist)

Graham Jones (born 28 October 1957) is a former professional English

Graham was born in Cheadle, just south of Manchester. As a youth he was on the books of Manchester United F.C. as a part of their youth program.^[3] Graham gave up football in favour of cycling. He took his first step towards becoming a professional cyclist in 1972, age 14 he joined the Abbotsford Park Road cycling club which then had a clubroom in Fallowfield, Manchester. During his first year of racing he had no success and was even lapped frequently during the circuit races. It was not until 1974 at 16 years of age he won his first race in Macclesfield. He was coached by Malcolm Firth, who, along with Harold "H" Nelson, developed a training routine based on heart rates and power training. In 1975, as a Junior, he gained three fourth places in national championships (pursuit, road race and 25-mile time-trial) – indeed, the 40 km/25-mile time trial was his first race over the distance for two years and covered the distance in a little over 57 minutes. As well as winning the divisional junior road title, he won the senior pursuit title against the established senior rider, Malcolm Fraser. In his last year as a junior he had 12 wins and also finished 22nd in the World Junior Road Race Championship. In 1976 he went to the Netherlands for five months: his best place was 2nd and he had a host of top six places.^[4]

Amateur career

In 1977 he won the UK's first classic of the season – the GP of Essex. He then moved to

Graham was one of four new signings among the twenty two riders in the Peugeot team of 1979 which included Bernard Thévenet and Hennie Kuiper. In his first Professional race the Grand Prix St Raphael, he finished in second place behind Roger Rogiers. A few weeks later, on stage 4 of the Paris Nice he was a part of an elite breakaway which tore the race apart. His undoubted class, however, wasn't allowed to flourish as it might, as he was over-raced by his team. Over the coming seasons, his ability against the watch, in the mountains and as a rouleur won him the respect of the peloton.

Throughout his professional career Graham competed in the majority of prestigious races from the

Post-cycling career

Since his retirement from the peloton, Graham has worked for a bike company (Emmelle) and still works as a commentator for the BBC, Eurosport and ITV. He's a regular on the Tour de France, and gets to meet up with the former riders of the peloton, notably Jean-René Bernaudeau, his former teammate and good friend.^[5]

Major results

Sources

• Tony Lyons site
• The Graham Jones Story Archived 2 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
• Tour de France stats

References

External links

• Graham Jones on
  Twitter