Bruce Biddle Explained

Bruce Biddle
Full Name:Bruce William Biddle
Birth Place:Warkworth, New Zealand
Height:1.73 m
Weight:64 kg
Currentteam:Retired
Discipline:Road
Role:Rider
Proyears1:1974–1975
Proteam1:[1]
Proyears2:1976
Proteam2:Cuneo–Bonetto
Proyears3:1977
Proyears4:1978
Proyears5:1979
Majorwins:One-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (1969)

Show-Medals:yes

Bruce William Biddle (born 2 November 1948) is a former road racing cyclist from New Zealand, who was a professional rider from 1974 to 1979. He won the gold medal in the men's individual road race at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Career

Biddle won the gold medal in the men's individual road race at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. This was the first gold medal by a New Zealander in the road race at the Commonwealth Games.[2] Following the race he spent the next season in England.[3]

He represented his native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, where he came fourth in the men's individual road race. Although Jaime Huelamo from Spain, who came third, was disqualified for failing a drug test, the bronze medal was not awarded to Biddle as he had not been tested for drugs.[4] [5] There was an attempt in 2002 to try to get Biddle his Bronze medal it was not successful. But his first race following the Olympic games, in Tuscany, he was awarded a gold medal.[6]

In 1973 he won the Piccolo Giro di Lombardia, the under-23 version of the UCI WorldTour race Giro di Lombardia.[3]

In 1979 Biddle was run over by a lorry and it look him many months to retire. This crash was one of the reasons he retired from the sport at the end of the year.[3]

Major results

Sources:[7] [8] [9]

1969
  • 1st Road race, National Road Championships
  • 1st Overall Dulux Tour of the North Island
    1970
  • 1st Road race, Commonwealth Games
  • 8th Overall Tour of Ireland
  • 1st Stages 4 & 8
    1971
  • 2nd, Stage 11 Milk Race
  • 3rd Overall Tour of Ireland
  • 4th Overall Manx International GP
  • 8th Overall Archer GP
    1972
  • 1st GP la Torre
  • 4th Road race, Olympic Games
    1973
  • 1st Piccolo Giro di Lombardia
  • 1st Giro delle Valli Aretine
  • 2nd Coppa Bologna
  • 9th Gran Premio della Liberazione
    1974
  • 3rd Giro del Lazio
    1975
  • 7th GP Benego
  • 9th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato
    1976
  • 5th Trofeo Laigueglia
  • 7th Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
  • 8th Giro della Romagna
  • 8th GP Montelupo
  • 8th Trofeo Baracchi 2nd, Stage 7 Tour de Suisse, Lausanne
  • 2nd, Stage 8 Tour de Suisse, Solothurn
  • 3rd, Stage 5 part b Tirreno - Adriatico
    1978
  • 10th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Bruce Biddle Teams . FirstCycling.com . 18 November 2023 . en.
    2. Web site: Road and track: from the mid-20th century . teara.govt.nz . 18 November 2023.
    3. Web site: Hood . Edmond . PEZ Giro Talk: New Zealand's Bruce Biddle . PezCycling News . 18 November 2023 . 31 May 2019.
    4. Web site: Cycling: Biddle injustice to fore again . NZ Herald . 18 November 2023 . en-NZ . 11 December 2002.
    5. Web site: Bruce Biddle Olympic Results . 25 October 2014 . sports-reference.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141022183143/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bi/bruce-biddle-1.html . 22 October 2014 .
    6. Web site: Cycling: Biddle's Olympic medal riddle . NZ Herald . 18 November 2023 . en-NZ . 8 July 2012.
    7. Web site: Bruce Biddle . www.cyclingarchives.com . 18 November 2023 . en.
    8. Web site: Bruce Biddle . FirstCycling.com . 18 November 2023 . en.
    9. Web site: Bruce Biddle . www.procyclingstats.com . 18 November 2023.