Chris Boardman wins gold in 1992
Chris Boardman wins gold in 1992

Chris Boardman on his career and more cycling issues


Cycling legend Chris Boardman joins us to talk about his career, British Cycling's Secret Squirrel Club, Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish, the row over therapeutic use exemptions and more.

By Nick Hext

This article was published on May 9, 2017

Chris Boardman told Sportinglife.com about the highlight of his career when winning individual pursuit gold at the Olympics in 1992 and also the toughest day he ever faced racing during the 1996 Tour de France. 

The 48-year-old worked for British Cycling after his time in the saddle ended and talks about the highs and lows of the 'Secret Squirrel Club' as Olympic success arrived in 2008 and 2012.  

Boardman also gives us his views on Chris Froome, described as the "president of the peloton", the "interesting phenomenon" of Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas' chance to shine.

The row over Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) in cycling is discussed with Boardman telling us: "If nobody feels it’s ethical then it just shouldn’t be within the rules. It’s as simple as that."

On the start of his career


"I came from a cycling family but I didn’t go into it naturally. I was more interested in scuba diving and anything to do with water to start with. 

"I entered a tiny local race when I was 13, set a time for a 10 mile time-trial and went back the next week, went a bit faster and it pretty much just followed that pattern of getting a little bit better and a little bit better again. It wasn’t something I intended (a professional career) as probably like a lot of people it grew from a childhood experience. 

"It’s funny how things work out because I could quite as easily been a scuba diving instructor somewhere in the world and been perfectly happy.  

"At the risk of sounding a bit melodramatic, the test was seeing what I could do. I was fascinated by understanding things and my career became an exercise on wondering what could go better and what could be done differently."

On winning gold at the 1992 Olympics


"I just had to deal with what was within my control during the build-up. Everything else happened afterwards but I could only let myself think about the races otherwise I’d have been swamped. Wait until you cross the line and see what it’s got you, that’s the only way to cope with things on that scale. It’s actually a very good life lesson. Can I do anything about it? If I can’t then I stop thinking about.   

"Looking ahead was too much like tempting fate. Most of my time in Barcelona was just dealing with the wait and the realisation of having four-and-a-half minutes to change mine and my family’s life, or not as the case could have been. I learned to cope with the magnitude of that.    

"For a professional cyclist you might ride up to 90 race days in a year. If you win 10 to 15 of those then you are classed as being very, very successful. Whereas an Olympic Games is a one-off moment once every four years that most riders will only get a couple of shots at in a career. 

"I didn’t think I was going to win an Olympic title even when I was sitting on the track for the final because that’s what people on TV did. I was a carpenter from the Wirral so I never considered myself one of those people. Then a few minutes later I was!"   

On the toughest day of his career


"The Tour de France is like the Olympics in the sense that it’s bigger than the sport. You say ‘The Tour’ and people know what you are talking about. It’s like the unofficial world cycling championship so when I raced my first stage I didn’t realise how important that was. 

"I can remember a stage in 1996 that was 260 kilometres-plus in Pamplona. I’d been dropped after five kilometres and I was just utterly exhausted. It was a week away from Paris and I was looking at over 250 kilometres and several mountains on my own. That was the hardest day I have ever done on a bike. It’s the sort of thing that you can only do once.  

"After a couple of hours of hard racing, which was why it had blown apart so quickly, a group of us came together. It is known as the laughing group when you are not part of that day’s race and your only target is to get to the finish. It wasn’t a group I was accustomed to being in so mentally it was a tough day. You get together and an impromptu club is formed where everybody looks after each other to make sure that as many people as possible get to the finish.  

"There’s always an elder statesman who takes the lead. On that day it was Eros Poli, a very well respected Italian rider who was my team-mate after that, and he made it seem like a great adventure as we were all going on a bike ride through the Alps together. He normalised the situation as he didn’t want us all miserable thinking ‘oh we’ve been dropped, isn’t it awful’. He just made it seem like a great day out and that positivity that he exuded made a big difference. 

"You go at a reasonable pace up the mountains and then you absolutely batter coming down to stay within the time limit. Somehow eight-and-a-half hours later I remember getting to the finish line and I was still inside that limit."

On breaking the hour record to end his career


"I’d totally had enough at the end of my career. It was getting impossible to win anything at all. Everything is elation and despair in sport and it was more of the latter than the former. I knew it was time to stop.  

"My attempt to break Eddy Merckx’s hour world record was my last event in 2000. Luckily I just about broke that record (riding 49.444km in an hour, Merckx’s previous record was 49.431km). I finished content that there wasn’t anything more. I was very lucky to finish on a high and it was a lovely end to my career, although I couldn’t walk for four days afterwards! 

"People often ask me now: ‘Do you miss it?’ Well no, it was great but now I’m finished and it’s much more enjoyable on this side of the fence when you can watch the racing then have a beer and go for a curry."

On the highs and lows of British Cycling's Secret Squirrel Club


"I led the ‘Secret Squirrel Club’ (as British Cycling's director of research and development) to have this once in a lifetime experience with quite a substantial budget to make improvements on all technical aspects like the bikes, tyres and clothing. We just had to make people go faster at the end of those four years and you wouldn’t get that chance anywhere else in the business world. It’s was a unique lottery funded experience that paid enormous dividends and the gains that we found were quite incredible.  

"I was able to say to Dave (Sir Dave Brailsford, British Cycling’s former performance director) what I wanted to do and there was a huge trust with what I wanted to invest the money in. He’d say do it and I was able to come back later and say to Dave: ‘I can come in on budget and we’ll deliver this or I can go 10 per cent over budget and give you this much more, which one do you want to do?’ He’d almost always say: ‘Oh f*** it Chris, do it’.  I knew I had his full support to make people go faster and it was a really great period of time. 

"After 2008 in Beijing, it got successful and the sheer scale of everything distracted everybody. People were distracted from going faster on the bike and wanted to go on television. Everybody was having success for the first time, the press telling them how wonderful it is and I had to watch them go through that learning process. It wasn’t always fun as people forgot what was important, got a bit greedy and it wasn’t quite as fun as when it started (Boardman left the role after the 2012 Olympics in London)."

Triumphs & Turbulence, Chris Boardman’s autobiography, is out now in paperback, published by Ebury Press (£8.99)

On Chris Froome


"It’s a boring prognosis bit it’s hard to see past Chris Froome (to win this year’s Tour de France). 

"He’s developing into a really likeable character as well. He’s very quiet, mild mannered and careful not to say anything bad about anybody which has led some to label him as a bit boring. However, some of his bike riding in the Tour de France last year made for fantastic viewing and he’s growing on people from a personal perspective and his sporting achievements. 

"Once you stop being a sportsperson you realise that winning races is only a small part of it as people are more interested in who you are. I think he’s slowly getting the confidence to show that and it’s appreciated. 

"Whether you like it or not, you become the boss of cycling when you win the Tour de France. You inadvertently become the president of the peloton and take all the responsibility that comes with it. Time after time it takes Tour de France winners by surprise and he needed time to come to terms with that."

On Mark Cavendish


"We, and I include myself in that, have said many times in the past that he’s on the wane and something about that riles him and he gets even better than before. 

"I’ve learned to my peril to never write off Mark Cavendish. He’s had such a long career because he started so young but he’s proved us wrong so many times that you can’t underestimate him. That’s the exciting thing with Mark that you just don’t know how he’ll get on and I’m not even sure Mark knows.   

"He’s a very emotional character. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s not always an easy person to be around. He can throw a big strop, be incredibly generous and everything in-between. 

"You never quite know where it’s coming from so people have to be incredibly flexible to work with him but there’s no denying the consistency that he’s produced during his career. However, his outward character isn’t consistent so he’s a very interesting phenomenon and an absolute nightmare to interview if he doesn’t win a stage. That’s partly why he’s a winner as it means that much to him."

On Geraint Thomas


"I’ve been very frustrated by Geraint. I’ve always thought he’s better than I think he’s believed he is. To his credit, he’s been helping other riders over a number of years when I think he’s been capable of being a leader in his own right. 

"He’s riding in the Giro d’Italia currently and it will be interesting to see if he can make the most of the chance to take on more of a lead role. He’s been in the form of his life at the start of this year so if this doesn’t turn out to be his year then it’s probably not going to happen."

On the use of TUEs in Cycling


The World Anti-Doping Agency state: "Athletes may have illnesses or conditions that require them to take particular medications. If the medication an athlete is required to take to treat an illness or condition happens to fall under the Prohibited List, a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) may give that athlete the authorization to take the needed medicine." 

Boardman says: "It’s a grey area and like a lot of good ideas it gets twisted. On paper it’s a good idea as if somebody gets a minor illness then they can get treatment from a certified doctor. Unfortunately, it has clearly been abused. Somebody can say ‘this is in the rules’ but if nobody feels it’s ethical then it just shouldn’t be within the rules. It’s as simple as that.  

"There are lots of things people could do right now by making TUEs public. Individuals don’t have to make it public as it’s personal but if you don’t make it public then we are going to tell people who is and who isn’t making it public. That approach would lead to an awful lot of moral pressure for the riders to help themselves. 

"We are effectively in the entertainment business whether people like it or not as people watch sports to be entertained. The riders are performers and the sponsors won’t stick with you unless everything is right. The riders need to help themselves and one of the ways they can do that is to be transparent with the TUEs.  

"There is no such thing as a secret in sport any more. If more than one person knows something then it will inevitably come out. Nothing is private with social media so embrace it."

Triumphs & Turbulence, Chris Boardman’s autobiography, is out now in paperback, published by Ebury Press (£8.99)


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