Chris Boardman is one of Britain’s best cyclists, specialising in time trials and individual pursuit. He is an Olympic gold medalist, two-time world champion and three-time winner of the Hourly record during his career. He also won three stages of the Tour-de-Francewinning the prologues in 1994, 1997 and 1998. Since retiring from professional cycling, Boardman has been a prominent advocate for cycling and walking and was appointed National Active Travel Commissioner in 2022.
(Image credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWPix)
What was your first bike?
It was a Raleigh Chipper with big fat white tires. I rode it around the cul-de-sac in Hoylake where we used to live. Like everyone else, it was the first opportunity to expand your mates’ territory and do stupid things that were likely to get you hurt.
Which race did you remember first?
I automatically got into cycling because it was my family’s sport. I had a family of time trialists and that’s what we did. On Sunday mornings at five o’clock we would all pile into a minivan with a canoe and a bike strapped to the roof. Then my dad would go off for an hour and do whatever he normally did, we would play and then we would go off and do something as a family.
I didn’t pay much attention to sports until I was about 10. Then I realized my dad was pretty good at it, and that was a pretty cool feeling. He was kind of my first sports hero. I would always stand at the scoreboard and listen to people talk about my dad.
Were there any other cycling heroes in your youth?
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A little later, Greg Lemond was the first one that really stuck in my mind. It was the fascination with the story of the man who changed the sport. You know, sunglasses, million dollar contract, aero bars, pointy helmets. So many innovations led by one person who made it all popular. Then, 20 years later, I shared a room with him (at GAN-Lemond).
You have been known throughout your career for always being at the forefront of innovation, such as with the Lotus 108 and the Superman position. Where did this interest come from?
I’ve always liked making things, whether it’s out of wood, whether it’s an article, a business. And I’m fascinated by making things better. In terms of my own performance, I was very lucky to meet Lotus in the early ’90s, who put me in a wind tunnel and then showed me how the numbers changed when I did things, which was fascinating.
The second point, which I think is really important, is that I didn’t reintroduce these positions. That was Graeme Obree, and I copied him. He was the guy who had the courage to stand by his convictions and say, “I’m going to do something that’s outside the norm, and people are going to mock me for it, but I’m going to do it anyway.” That was pretty amazing, so I copied him. I was a practitioner, not a leader.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How did you get into time trialing?
I actually got into it through my family and then, when I was 13, I wanted to try “this thing”. We would go to a local time trial on Thursday nights and get chips on the way home. It was a nice family affair and eventually my parents gave in and let me join in.
I was average to begin with. On the A4 sheet of paper on the lamppost, my name was at the bottom, at 29 minutes and something. What fascinated me at the time – I wasn’t having a good time at school, I was being bullied quite a bit – was that I went back the next week and did better. It was something that was mine. My time against me. That led to me beating another student, and suddenly that felt great. It filled a gap in my life that I desperately needed.
What is the proudest moment of our career?
The things I’m most proud of came long after I left cycling. That’s what the cycling career has enabled me to do. My aim is to give every child in this country independence in transport and the freedom to stay in extra-curricular clubs or travel as they wish. And we’re on that journey now. The work I’ve done in Greater Manchester has enabled us to show what’s possible and that’s what I’m most proud of – that we’ve got a whole city region saying, ‘Yes, we’re going to cycle and walk more.’
(Image credit: Getty Images)
What motivated you to become actively involved in travel?
It was probably when I was on Newsnight in 2012 when we were at the Olympics and starting to win things again. I was asked to go on and talk about cycling. It was a really grown-up show. I got some questions like, ‘Shouldn’t cyclists have road tax?’, which was actually abolished in 1932, and that just really annoyed me. But in that same moment, in that same show, I realised what an incredibly robust platform it was and how powerful the potential answers were, that there’s no crisis you can talk about that won’t be improved by it.
Around the same time, my daughter asked me to drive her to the park, which was about 500 m away. I said no, and that made me angry. I felt like I couldn’t protect her. It was exactly 573 m, I measured it afterwards. I thought, “Someone should do something about this, so I’m going to do it.”
This summer you want to cycle to the Olympic Games in Paris. Tell me about it…
Sport England’s environmental strategy, which I’m really damn proud of, is a £100 million investment. To make that visible – and this is very important because of Paris and the Paris Agreement – we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement soon – we thought, “What’s the most sustainable way to get there? Let’s cycle. Let’s take some celebs, let’s have a few stops along the way, do it with the BBC and highlight some good things that are happening to make sure the people who are really trying to be sustainable get applauded.”
In addition, we want all sports organizations in the country to sign a pledge. I think we call it the Going for Green Pledge, which essentially says, “We’re going to do something.”
For more information about the Pedal for Paris campaign, see Sport England website.
