Vincent Denson

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Vin Denson (2018)
Denson 1960

Vincent Denson (born November 24, 1935 in Handbridge, Chester ) is a retired British cyclist .

Athletic career

Denson started out as a footballer and then started cycling when he was 17 . He got the impetus for this from his French teacher, who lent him cycling newspapers such as the Miroir du Cyclisme and who inspired him to do the Tour de France . He became a member of the Chester Road Club . At first he started on his brother's borrowed bike. He achieved first successes especially in individual time trials . In 1954 he became better known in the British cycling scene by winning the Merseyside Championship. Vincent Denson became a professional driver relatively late, at the age of 26 after completing his military service. As an amateur , he previously denied a. a. the International Peace Ride in 1960 (27th place) and 1961 (17th place), as well as the Tour de l`Avenir and the Great Britain Tour , which goes by the name of Milk-Race (best result in 1960, 5th place). After Denson could not qualify for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome , he moved with Stan Brittain , Ken Laidlow and Sean Ryan to Donzenac near Brive in France . There he was initially a member of the UVC Aube , an association sponsored by the Frimatic professional team . As an independent , he received a contract with the Magnard-Rochet-Dunlop team . This gave him the opportunity to take part in professional races and earn his living as a racing driver. His wife Violet moved with him to France, where they lived for the first time in a brothel owned by his manager at the time, Andre Mater. At this time he also changed his nickname to "Vic" because his nickname, Vin, which is common in Great Britain, meant wine in French and he wanted to avoid misunderstandings. Shortly after signing the contract as a semi-professional, he contested his first Tour de France (for the British national team), but retired on the ninth stage from the race like all of his team-mates except Brian Robinson , Seamus Elliot and Ken Laidlow. Denson received his first real professional contract in France with the Pelforth-Sauvage-Lejeune team (where his compatriot Alan Ramsbottom was already under contract) in the summer of 1963 after a stage win at the Circuit de Aquitaine in 1962 and victory at the Spanish stage race Vuelta a Bidasoa . Team manager Maurice De Muer promised him a place on the tour team, but did not nominate him in the end. Denson was angry and disappointed about this, as he said, as a tour starter, he lost around 80 English pounds per race for the criteria following the tour (with a weekly earnings of 50 pounds, which his team guaranteed him). He also disliked the team's practice of paying salaries at the end of the year rather than monthly and created problems in daily life for the family. However, he received an offer from Rik van Looy's racing team , Solo-Superia , for the 1964 season after the plan for Simpson's Peugeot team to start did not work out. He moved to Belgium with his wife , especially because living there was much cheaper than in France and there were more opportunities to start and earn money for professional cyclists. Denson does not have fond memories of this year, as he often did not receive his agreed wages or not in full from the racing team and, in his opinion, van Looy treated the domestics badly and disadvantaged them financially. So that year he had a great chance after a successful breakaway attempt to win a Tour de France stage, but received no support from his team (he was 72nd in the final ranking). There were also language problems in the team. In 1965 he moved to the French team Ford-France , in which Jacques Anquetil was team leader. Anquetil himself had approached him at the road world championships in the fall of 1964 in Sallanches, France, about a change. He got on well with him, he valued Anquetil because he gave his helpers opportunities to win races and earn additional money. He again competed in the Tour de France (87th overall).

With his victory at the Tour of Luxembourg in 1965, he became the first British winner of a continental European tour of the country for professional drivers. In 1966 Vic Denson won the ninth stage of the Giro d`Italia (40th overall) and was the first Briton to celebrate a stage win at the Giro, for which he received recognition from his leader Anquetil. With the prize money from the Giro, he and his wife Vi opened a bar in Ghent, Belgium . He retired from the tour that same year. He crossed the finish line on the 16th stage with another 26 riders shortly before the time limit, but all of them were taken out of the race because the waiting period was exceeded . Denson stated that the actual reason for the exclusion was that the tour organizers had not booked enough overnight accommodation at the stage destination and thus wanted to solve the problem. Denson was a member of the British team in the 1967 Tour de France , in which Tom Simpson (with whom he was close friends) fell under the influence of doping substances and alcohol and later died during the climb to Mont Ventoux . After this stage, Denson wanted to leave the race immediately. On the initiative of Jean Stablinski , the opinion leaders in the field agreed that a Brit, Vincent Denson, should win the subsequent stage in Simpson’s honor. However, Barry Hoban did not stick to this agreement and was the first to cross the finish line. Denson then gave up the race out of grief over Simpson's death. On the tour he took the Tour de France again in 1968 , this time again for the British national team, drove through to Paris and was 62nd in the classification. In 1968 he also achieved his last victory as a cyclist. In May of this year he switched to the Italian team Kelvinator . The Densons sold their bar, left Belgium with their three children, moved back to Great Britain and founded their own company in Harlow .

Vincent Denson joined the British Bantel team for the 1969 season , after which he drove without a contract as an amateur and without great ambitions until 1980, mainly in the time trial competitions popular in Great Britain. He ended his career at the age of 45. In 2003 Vic Denson received an invitation to take part as a guest of honor at the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France, but had to cancel due to a stroke he had recently.

Professional

After Denson and his wife ran a bar in Belgium in the 1960s, they both founded a trading company for wood protection products on their return to Great Britain, which Vincent continued to run alone after his wife's death.

Private

Denson's wife Violet died in 1996. He has three children, two sons and a daughter.

literature

  • Vincent Denson wrote his autobiography, which was published in 2008 under the title "The Full Circle". (Vin Denson: The full circle . Mousehold Press, Norwich, 2008, ISBN 978-1-874739-52-4 )

Web links

Commons : Vic Denson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Cycling legend Vin Denson makes return to Chester Road Club. Accessed May 10, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i “I'll have what Eddy Merckx is getting” - Vin Denson. Accessed May 10, 2019 .
  3. ^ Tour Encyclopedia . tape 3 . Uitgeverij Wordstrips, Gent 1999, p. 123 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Vin Denson interview. Accessed May 10, 2019 .
  5. ^ William Fotheringham: Put me back on my bike . The Tom Simpson Biography. Covadonga, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 978-3-936973-29-7 , pp. 13 .
  6. ↑ a b Cycling: Vin Denson - the story of a British cycling pioneer. Accessed May 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Vin Denson suffers stroke. Accessed May 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Denson, Vincent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Handbridge, Chester