Hercules Cycling Team

The squad that supplied the first two Brits to finish the Tour de France

- Giles Belbin

Type ‘Hercules’ into the search engine of the Veteran Cycle Club online library and among the articles returned is a letter from the company’s sales manager, E.T. Wilkins, to its dealers. Dated November 7, 1955, the letter introduces a new model, the Tour de France Equipe, “based on the specification of machines ridden by Hercules riders throughout the Tour de France and other Home and Continental races.”

Four months earlier, six Hercules riders had been among the 10-strong Great Britain team that had started the Tour with Hercules team manager Syd Cozens at the helm. The Hercules riders had prepared on the Côte d’Azur, living in a villa with the Bobet brothers as intrigued neighbours, and recording creditable results in races such as Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné.