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Barry Hoban
	Hoban at the 1966 UCI Road World Championships
Personal information
Full name	Barry Hoban
Born	5 February 1940 (age 84); Wakefield, England
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Major wins
	Grand Tours Tour de France 8 individual stages (1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975) Vuelta a España 2 individual stages (1964) One-day races and Classics Gent–Wevelgem (1974)

Barry Hoban (born 5 February 1940) is a former English professional cyclist who rode during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He formerly held the record for the most stage wins in the Tour de France by a British rider, winning eight between 1967 and 1975. Along with David Millar and Geraint Thomas (as of 2023) he holds the record for the most Tours completed by a British rider – having finished 11 of the 12 he started between 1965 and 1978. He was also the first Briton to win two consecutive stages of the Tour (a feat matched by Mark Cavendish in 2008, twice in 2009 and once in 2010, and by Geraint Thomas in 2018).^[1]

Early career

Hoban started cycle racing in 1955, joining Calder Clarion,^[2] and by the end of the year was competing against Tom Simpson in individual time trials. Two years later, he was fourth in the British League of Racing Cyclists hill-climb (the senior title being won by Simpson). Despite his early prowess as a climber, Hoban later established himself as one of Europe's best sprinters.

Inspired by the European successes of fellow Yorkshireman Brian Robinson and of Simpson, Hoban went to France in 1962, turned professional two years later, and stayed abroad for another 16 years. He rode for Mercier-Hutchinson-BP where his team leader was Raymond Poulidor who is famous for coming second three times in the Tour de France but never winning. Hoban was single then and used to come back to Wakefield for the winter with a case full of used shorts/jerseys etc. and sell them to the local riders (it wasn't easy then to get good quality kit and what was available was expensive). Dozens of riders in the BCF West Yorks division had a pair of shorts with Mercier Hutchinson embroidered on the legs. Back then, the best frames were hand-built British ones and Maurice Woodrup, a Leeds frame builder, would have a new frame sprayed Mercier pink waiting for him each year. He would take it back to have Mercier transfers attached.

In the 1967 Tour de France, after the death of Tom Simpson, Hoban was allowed to win the next stage. Two years later, in 1969, Hoban married Simpson's widow, with whom he has a daughter Daniella, and two stepdaughters Jane and Joanne.

Major Results

1963

10th Overall Paris–Luxembourg

1964

Vuelta a España

1st Stages 12 & 13

1st Stage 3 Grand Prix du Midi Libre

2nd Circuit des Frontières

9th Genoa–Nice

1966

1st Eschborn–Frankfurt

1st Stage 2a Tour de l'Oise

5th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

1967

1st Stage 14 Tour de France

2nd Paris–Tours

5th Tour of Flanders

7th Dwars door België

1968

1st Stage 19 Tour de France

2nd Overall Tour de l'Oise

2nd Grand Prix de Denain

9th GP Fayt-le-Franc

10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

1969

Tour de France

1st Stages 18 & 19

1st Stage 1b Four Days of Dunkirk

3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège

7th Tour of Flanders

9th Harelbeke–Antwerp–Harelbeke

9th Ronde van Limburg

1970

1st Manx Trophy

2nd Circuit des Frontières

5th Grand Prix de Fourmies

6th Bordeaux–Paris

7th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

1st Stage 3

7th De Kustpijl

1971

1st Grand Prix de Fourmies

1st Stage 5b Four Days of Dunkirk

2nd Overall Tour de l'Oise

6th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg

1972

3rd Overall Tour de Luxembourg

3rd Paris–Roubaix

8th Paris–Bourges

9th Paris–Tours

9th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne

1973

Tour de France

1st Stages 11 & 19

10th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme

1974

1st Gent–Wevelgem

1st Paris–Bourges

1st Stage 13 Tour de France

2nd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre

1st

Points classification

1st Stages 1b & 3

2nd Overall Tour de l'Aude

1st Stage 3

4th Züri-Metzgete

10th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

1975

1st Stage 8 Tour de France

10th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

1978

2nd Grand Prix Pino Cerami

5th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

1st Stage 5b

10th Overall Tour de l'Oise

1980

8th Nokere Koerse

Tour de France Stage Wins

1967 - Stage 14 - Carpentras – Sète – Hoban was allowed to win after the death of Tom Simpson on the previous stage.
1968 - Stage 19 - Grenoble – Sallanches – a rarity in that Hoban won a mountain stage, not a sprint.
1969 - Stage 18 - Mourenx – Bordeaux
1969 - Stage 19 - Bordeaux - Brive-la-Gaillarde – the first Briton to win successive stages of the Tour.
1973 – Stage 11 - Montpellier - Argelès-sur-Mer
1973 - Stage 19 - Bourges – Versaille
1974 - Stage 13 - Avignon – Montpellier
1975 - Stage 8 - Angoulême - Bordeaux

Other career highlights

He competed in the team pursuit at the 1960 Summer Olympics.^[3]

Hoban also won two stages of the 1964 Vuelta a España and the 1974 Gent–Wevelgem,^[4] where he finished ahead of Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck.^[5] In the ’Monument’ Classics, his best performances were third places in Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969) and Paris–Roubaix (1972). Towards the end of a career spent largely in mainland Europe, Hoban occasionally returned to the UK to race; he won the London-Bradford race and was second in the British professional road-race championship in 1979, and he won the Grand Prix of Manchester in 1980.

At least one bicycle was made with his name on it, including Barry Hoban-badged frames made by Coventry Cycles (later trading as Coventry Eagle). This is a common practice of retired racing cyclists. Hoban lives in Mid-Wales after moving there to work with the factory that built his frames.

In 2009 he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.^[6]