1970 UCI World Cycling Championships - Leicester

On August 6th 1970, Leicester held the 1970 UCI World Cycling Championships.

6th – 12th August track events at Saffron Lane Stadium. 13th August 100km Team Time Trial on the A46 north of Leicester. 15th August Road Race for Amateur Men and Ladies based from Mallory Park.

16th August Road Race for Professional Men based from Mallory Park. I managed to get to every event. It was just a magic time in Leicester; cyclists all over Leicester and Leicestershire, from all over the World, stopping the traffic to get pictures of the Clock Tower, etc, etc.

Victoria Park was a camp site. The De Montfort Hall was made into a ‘continental’ type of café/bar. The school at the top of Saffron Lane was made into a Youth Hostel.

The picture was taken yesterday and shows Nipper (Edward Newcombe) and me with the sign that I have been looking after for The Leicester Chamber of Trade for 50 years!

This sign, and others, were placed on the major roads at the City boundaries welcoming people to Leicester.

Nipper and I were driving home after the men’s professional road race and we saw this sign at the side of the road and we thought that we had better look after it before somebody pinched it as a souvenir and so we carefully lifted it onto the top of Nipper’s Rover 90 and took it to somewhere safe!

We owe a lot to Benny Foster for bringing both the track and road championships to Leicester.

We held the UCI World Track Cycling Championships at Saffron Lane in 1982 which were great but in 1970 we had the whole lot, the Track, Team Time Trial and Road all in the same City! Fantastic memories!

Steve & Nipper