ANC-Halfords Cycling Team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ANC-Halfords Cycling Team was a British based professional team that was created in 1985 but folded in 1987 due to a lack of funds. This team will best be remembered for being to date the only British based team since the 1960's to compete in the Tour de France.
The team used Peugeot cycles with Campagnolo components.
ANC-Halfords was formed in 1985 by Tony Capper and Phil Griffiths who had big plans for getting the team into the Tour de France. The team competed on both the continent and the smaller professional racing circuit in Britain. Unfortunately, the British Cycling Federation imposed limits on team sizes to about 6 riders per team while continental squads usually have 20 plus. To get around this, when racing in Britain, the squad was split into 3 different teams with different sponsors e.g. 'Lycra-Halfords. On the continent, all the riders rode under one team name.
In 1987, ANC got a wildcard invitation to ride the Tour de France. Unfortunately, the team were too inexperienced as only Graham Jones had ridden a grand tour before the 1987 Tour de France. The team turned up in Berlin and were promised the best equipment such as specialist time-trial cycles. Instead, they rode the opening time trial on their standard road bikes, with only 4 disk wheels between a team of 9 riders. Subsequently, only four riders made it to Paris. The only success was Malcolm Elliot's 3rd place in a stage finish.
The team did race on after the tour with Joey McLoughlin winning the first Kellogg's Tour of Britain and Malcolm Elliot winning 2 stages in the Nissan Classic in Ireland. Sadly, by the end of the season, the team ran out of money and was no more.
[edit] Notable Riders
- Malcolm Elliot.
After ANC, Malcolm rode for several continental squads including the Spanish Teka squad with which in 1989 he won the points jersey in the Tour of Spain making him the only British rider apart from Robert Millar to win a classification in a grand tour. After racing in Europe, Malcolm had a successful stint on the U.S. pro circuit which included a stage in the Tour duPont. At the age of 45, Malcolm Elliot is still racing at a professional level.
- Joey Mcloughlin.
After winning the 1986 Milk race and the 1987 Kellogg's tour, Joey was tipped to become the best British cyclist since Tom Simpson. After ANC, he signed to the large French Z squad. Constant injuries robbed Joey of his potential and he retired in 1991.
- Shane Sutton.
The Australian rider went on to win the 1990 Milk race with the Banana-Falcon squad. Shane settled in Britain and now works as a coach with the British track cycling team.
