Arthur Metcalfe - Professional Career

Professional Career

Having done all he could in Britain as an amateur, he turned professional in 1967 for Carlton Cycles, part of the Raleigh group of companies. The British professional scene was expanding but there was still little money and Metcalfe worked in Carlton's offices at Worksop, although he was allowed two mornings a week to train. Months later he rode the Tour de France during a break from work, a fact that persuaded French journalists that all the British team were similarly riding in their holidays.

In 1967 and 1968 the Tour was open to national rather than the usual commercially-sponsored teams that had made up the race since 1930. Britain's true professionals - Tom Simpson, Barry Hoban, Vin Denson and Michael Wright - all rode full-time and for well-established teams on the Continent. Metcalfe was one of a few less-prepared riders chosen from Britain to make up the numbers. Nevertheless, Metcalfe finished 69th in 1967, when he dedicated his services and therefore his ambitions to Simpson, the team's only likely winner.

Simpson died on the 13th stage of the race as he was climbing Mont Ventoux. Metcalfe and the rest of the team voted to continue. Metcalfe said: "I was in a right state. I just stood on my own all night. I was crying. It was the emotional strain on top of the physical strain. There was a lot of talk about whether we should pull out. felt we should stay in, so we just rode on. The rest of the race was a blur.'

Metcalfe rode the Tour again in 1968, heading the race alone on the stage to Bayonne and winning a prize as the day's most combative rider. He abandoned the Tour just before the end.