 Herety riding forCoop-Mercier in 1982 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | John P Herety |
| Nickname | The Galloping Gourmet |
| Born | (1958-03-08)8 March 1958 (age 67) Cheadle, Cheshire, England |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] |
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb; 9.6 st)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Current team | JLT–Condor |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider (retired) General manager |
| Rider type | Sprinter |
| Amateur teams | |
| Cheshire Road Club | |
| Abbotsford Park RC | |
| Altrincham RC-Rotalac Plastics | |
| 1981 | ACBB |
| Professional teams | |
| 1982–1984 | Coop-Mercier |
| 1985 | Ever Ready |
| 1986 | Percy Bilton |
| Managerial teams | |
| Percy Bilton | |
| 1999–2005 | Great Britain[2] |
| 2006– | Recycling.co.uk |
| Major wins | |
| British National Road Race Champion (1982) Peace Race, 1 Stage | |
John P Herety (born 8 March 1958) is a former Englishracing cyclist. He rode for Great Britain in theOlympic Games and won the national road championship as a professional. He is currently manager of theJLT–Condor cycling team,[3] and occasionally providesstudio-based analysis of cycle races forBritish Eurosport.[4]
Born inCheadle, Cheshire (now inGreater Manchester), England, Herety joined Cheshire Road Club as a young teenager.[5] His first win was in aScouts'cyclo-cross race in Woodbank Park,Stockport.[6] He was coached byHarold "H" Nelson and trained regularly with other local riders destined for professional careers, notablyGraham Jones,Paul Sherwen and Ian Binder. Further success followed as a junior. He was known as asprinter but he also won afterbreaking clear of the main field.[7]
He came third in the 1980British National Road Race Championships and won theManx Trophy. Herety, a chef, received a set of chef's knives when he won a stage of the 1980Peace Race in Karl-Marx-Stadt (nowChemnitz), a city proud of its steelworks.[6] Herety finished 21st in the road race at the1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, the race was won bySergei Sukhoruchenkov.[8]
He then joined the French team,Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, Europe's most successfulsports club with fellow British ridersSean Yates andJeff Williams.[9] Herety won his second race for theACBB which was a circuit ofToulon finishing in a bunch sprint.[10] Herety spent one season with theACBB and was offered a professional contract withMercier riding alongsideJoop Zoetemelk.[9] In 1982 he had hoped to get a ride in theTour de France.[11] However, a poor performance in the Tour de l' Aude resulted in him not being selected by theCoop-Mercier manager Jean–Pierre Danguillame.[11] Herety subsequently returned to England and won the ProfessionalBritish National Road Race Championships.[7] He also had success in theGrand Prix Pino Cerami finishing second after being outsprinted from a small group of riders by Ronny Van Holen.[11] However, after three seasons withMercier he had reached a level that he was unable to improve on.[12] Herety explained: “My trouble is that I can’t recover quickly enough after a hard stage race or a race." "When I’ m racing abroad that is no good, with so many races to ride one after the other.”[12] In 1985 he consequently decided to join the British-based professional team Ever Ready allowing him to race on the weekends and if needed have the whole week to recover.[12] In 1986 he then joined Percy Bilton riding alongsideBob Downs andSteve Joughin. The following season he won a stage in theMilk Race and was runner up in theBritish National Road Race Championships. John owed his successes to his powerful sprint.[6] However, his inability toclimb and recover during hard stage races limited his palmares.[12] Herety was not ageneral classification rider – evidence his 52nd overall in the 1984 Sealink International.[12]
"I don't see myself going on like this, getting so little back for the effort I put in. In France, racing most days, I just can't get the results"
Herety became team manager of the Percy Bilton team after his racing career. He went on to become director of racing forBritish Cycling.[6] He resigned following an inquiry into the2005 UCI Road World Championships in Madrid, whenCharly Wegelius andTom Southam were alleged to have helped Italian riders rather than those in the British team.[2] He was manager of Recycling.co.uk in 2006 and 2007, for 2008 this evolved intoRapha Condor–Recycling.co.uk and for 2009 became Rapha Condor.
Herety married Margaret (née Swinnerton) in winter 1983 and has a daughter named Georgia. Margaret is a sister to Paul,Catherine andBernadette, all former international riders.[6]
British National Road Race Championships (Professional)