Sydney Cozens

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Sydney "Syd" Turner Cozens (born December 17, 1908 in Manchester , † February 5, 1985 in New Brunswick , Canada ) was an English track cyclist .

Syd Cozens was a member of the prestigious Manchester Wheelers' Club. From 1929 to 1931 he won the sprint classic Grand Prix de Paris for amateurs three times in a row . At the rail world championships in 1929 and 1930 , he took second place in the sprint of the amateurs. In 1928, Syd Cozens, a blonde wearing glasses, took part in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam and started in the sprint, but could not place.

In 1931 Cozens turned professional, but was confronted in the sprint discipline with the strong drivers Jef Scherens , Louis Gérardin and Albert Richter . So he decided to do six-day races. He started at 15 events and was able to win once in London with Piet van Kempen in 1934 .

Cozens later became the sporting director of the BSA cycling team and then the Hercules team. In 1955 he was the manager of the first British team to take part in a Tour de France . However, the team was marked by internal disputes and overwhelmed with the efforts of the race. One of the drivers later characterized Cozens as a "bandit". Only two riders from the British team arrived in Paris. Tony Hoar (69th and last in the ranking, the other was Brian Robinson in 29th) characterized Cozens like this: “Syd spoke French fluently, but that was pretty much the only good thing about him [...] he had no clue of street races. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cyclingnews.com: "The rise and fall of Hercules"
  2. ^ Max Leonhard: Lanterne Rouge . 1st edition. Osburg, Hamburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-95510-113-8 , pp. 114 .
personal data
SURNAME Cozens, Sydney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cozens, Sydney Turner (full name); Cozens, Syd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English track cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH 5th February 1985
Place of death New Brunswick , Canada