Logo

21 Facts About Stan Brittain

1.

Arthur Stanley "Stan" Brittain was born on 4 October 1931 and was an English racing cyclist who rode time-trials, road races and the track.

2.

Stan Brittain won a silver medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games, came third in the 1955 Peace Race and finished the 1958 Tour de France.

3.

Stan Brittain joined the Woolton Wheelers and by the end of 1950 had ridden 1h 11m 45s in the East Liverpool Wheelers Novices' 25-mile time-trial.

4.

Stan Brittain won his first race at the distance in 1h 7m 45s wearing plimsolls and a flapping shirt.

5.

Stan Brittain was called up to the army to start his national service in 1952.

6.

Stan Brittain was picked to ride for Britain in the 1954 UCI Road World Championships at Solingen, near Cologne, Germany.

7.

Stan Brittain rode with Bill Baty, Ray Booty, John Perks, Bernard Pusey and Don Sanderson.

8.

Stan Brittain crashed on the seventh lap and finished 12 minutes behind the leaders.

9.

In 1955 Great Britain picked Stan Brittain to ride the Peace Race, the Soviet bloc's amateur version of the Tour de France.

10.

Stan Brittain came second on the first day and next day took the lead.

11.

Stan Brittain held it until the seventh stage, when he lost it to Gustav Schur of East Germany.

12.

In 1956 Stan Brittain was again selected to represent Great Britain.

13.

Stan Brittain came ninth on the first day but then he slipped further behind and dropped out at the start of stage six.

14.

Stan Brittain represented Great Britain at the 1956 Summer Olympics that were held in Melbourne.

15.

Stan Brittain competed in both the Men's Individual Road Race, where he finished in sixth position, and in the Men's Team Road Race, where Great Britain finished second and he won a silver medal.

16.

Robinson won the stage into Brest and Stan Brittain finished 68th at 3h 3m 5s.

17.

Stan Brittain rode for Viking Cycles in Britain for the first months of 1959, then left to live off the prizes he could win in Belgium.

18.

Stan Brittain rode on the continent again in 1960 and started the Tour de France.

19.

Stan Brittain stayed in Belgium and rode criteriums, local races with an engagement fee, until the end of summer.

20.

Stan Brittain abandoned the Tour again in 1961, when it reached the mountains and rode until the end of 1964 in Britain and then stopped racing when he was 33.

21.

In 1957 Stan Brittain was awarded the Golden Cycle by Merseyside Cycling Development.