Robert Spears

Robert Spears 1913

Robert "Bob" Spears (born November 19, 1893 in Sydney , Australia , † July 5, 1950 in Paris , France ) was an Australian cyclist .

Career

Robert Spears loved cycling as a boy and he competed in his first bike race at the age of 17. In 1911 he was the Australian sprint champion . Shortly thereafter, he won the six-day race in his hometown with Reggie McNamara .

From 1912 Spears drove primarily races in the USA, including several six-day races with good placements. In 1918 he came to Europe for the first time, where he mainly drove in Paris . In 1920 he won the sprint world championship at the rail world championships in Antwerp , making him the first Australian to win a professional cycling world championship. In the same year, as well as in 1921 and 1922, he won the sprint classic " Grand Prix de Paris ". In those years he was considered the fastest sprinter in the world.

Spears remained a professional cyclist until 1931. In 1950, already seriously ill, he traveled again to Europe to meet his old European companions. He died on July 5, 1950 in the American Hospital in Paris- Neuilly .

Honors

In 1985 Robert Spears was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and in 2019 into the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame .

literature

• Sports album of the Rad-Welt , 19th year, 1921
• Hans Borowik : 300 racing drivers in one volume , Berlin 1937

Web links

• Robert Spears in the Radsportseiten.net database

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cycling , July 25, 1950.
2. ^ Class of 2019 inducted into the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame. In: cycling.org.au. Retrieved March 17, 2020 .