In 1965, cyclist Thomas ‘Tommy’ Simpson was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, or Sportsview Personality of the Year, as it was still known at the time. He was the first cyclist to win the award and would be the last until Chris (later Sir Chris) Hoy in 2008. Simpson took the accolade ahead of racing driver Jim Clark, who won his second and final Formula One World Drivers’ Championship that year, and show jumper Marion Coakes, who won a gold medal at the World Show Jumping Championships at Hickstead on her horse, Stroller.
Born in Haswell, County Durham on November 30, 1937, Simpson was one of Britain’s most successful professional cyclists in his tragically short career. Riding for Peugeot–BP–Michelin ,.in September 1965 he became the first Briton to win the Men’s Individual Road Race at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) UCI Road World Championships, staged that year in San Sebastián, Spain. The following month, Simpson became the first and, at the time of writing, only Briton to win the Giro di Lombardia, between Milan and Como, finishing 3’11” ahead of his nearest pursuer, Gerben Karstens of the Netherlands.
Sadly, Simpson died, officially of “heart failure caused by exhaustion” on the thirteenth stage of the 1967 Tour de France, although amphetamines were found on his body and may have contributed to his death. Approaching the summit of Mont Ventoux, a 1,910m peak in the Provence region of southern France, Simpson fell off his bike but, against the advice of his team mechanic, Harry Hall, opted to continue. Shortly afterwards, he fell unconscious and was airlifted to hospital in Avignon, where he was pronounced dead later in the day. He was just 29 years old. A ceremony to mark his death was held the following morning at the start of the fourteenth stage.
Simpson was riding in his sixth Tour de France overall and was lying seventh in the overall race after the twelfth stage. Three years earlier he had become the first and, at the time of his death, only Briton to wear the tellow jersey as the overall leader of ‘La Grande Boucle’, as the race is nicknamed.