Tom Simpson

Tom Simpson, formally Thomas Simpson, was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists, born on 30 November 1937 in Haswell, County Durham. He began on the road as a teenager before specialising in track pursuit races, winning bronze at the 1956 Summer Olympics. As a professional he won the 1961 Tour of Flanders, became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France in 1962, won the 1964 Milan-San Remo, and in 1965 became Britain's first professional world road race champion and won the Giro di Lombardia, which earned him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. He collapsed and died on Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France, aged 29, and a memorial there is a pilgrimage site for cyclists.