Bob Maitland

Robert "Bob" John Maitland (born March 31, 1924 in Birmingham , † August 24, 2010 in Metz ) was an English cyclist .

Athletic career

Bob Maitland was already enthusiastic about cycling as a teenager, initially collecting autographs until he started riding himself. He became an engineer, which is why he didn't have to go to the front in World War II and could continue to race. In 1945 and 1946 Maitland won the British Hill Climbing Championship. In 1948 he took part in the Olympic Games in London , was sixth in the road race, in the team competition he won the silver medal with the British team.

In 1952 Maitland was British runner-up on the road and finished third in the Tour of Britain's overall standings . The following year he was British Road Champion, in 1954 he was third and 1955 second. Maitland also started the International Peace Tour in 1953, but was eliminated. He returned several times to the race as the British team principal.

1952 Bob Maitland joined the "British League of Racing Cyclists", a competing organization to the "National Cyclists' Union" and was therefore no longer considered for the Olympic Games. In 1955 he took part in the Tour de France as a member of the British team . Because of disputes between the associations, the team was put together by cycling journalists. The British, who hadn't realized what was in store for them and who were completely overwhelmed with the effort, gradually got out of the tour, including Bob Maitland after stage 9. Only two British riders reached Paris, one of them last in the overall ranking. For several years, Maitland then ran its own cycling team. He started in 1957 at the World Road Championships in Waregem, Belgium for the British national team and finished 39th in the race.

In 1989 Bob Maitland was road world champion in the age category 65 to 69. When he was over 70 he still took part in the Paris-Brest-Paris race. While attending a bicycle fair in France in 2010, at the age of 86, he suffered a heart attack and died a few days later in a hospital in Metz.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The results of the best three drivers of a nation from the individual road race were included in this team ranking.
2. ↑ Maik Märtin: 50 years of Course de la Paix . Agency Construct, Leipzig 1998, p. 247 .
3. ^ Helmer Boelsen: The history of the cycling world championships . Covadonga, Bielefeld, ISBN 978-3-936973-33-4 , p. 219 .
4. ↑ cyclingweekly.co .: "Bob Maitland, hero of 1948 London Olympics, this in France"

Web links

• Bob Maitland in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Bob Maitland in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )