DAYS OF THUNDER

Champion cyclist Maurice Burton battled racism to compete in the Six Days of Ghent, the pinnacle of track racing in the 1970s. To promote his new authorised biography, he speaks to us about this wild era on the boards

- John Whitney

Early last year, Maurice Burton was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame. The 68-year-old Londoner joined just 68 others, who'd made "an outstanding contribution to cycling across all levels and disciplines". Over the phone from his holiday home in Lanzarote, where he's often to be found when not in his southLondon bike shop De Ver Cycles, Burton tells me he was humbled by the accolade. "They asked me if I wanted to accept it and, of course, I did," says Burton. "But I did feel when I looked at some of the other people in it, the likes of say, Tom Simpson [Britain's first road world champion], and... I mean, I did okay as a rider but I didn't do anything that was on the level of someone like him."

He's being too modest, so I remind him of his own quote from the newly released book, The Maurice Burton Way, where he tells Paul Jones, his collaborator, that "everyone has to fight to get what they want, but they didn't have to fight the same fight as me". This prod leads to a necessary qualification. "It's true... things were different for me back then. They had doors open for them, not just in cycling but in life in general."