John Herety

Biography Born in Cheadle, Cheshire (now in Greater Manchester), England, Herety joined Cheshire Road Club as a young teenager. His first win was in a Scouts' cyclo-cross race in Woodbank Park, Stockport. He was coached by Harold "H" Nelson and trained regularly with other local riders destined for professional careers, notably Graham Jones, Paul Sherwen and Ian Binder. Further success followed as a junior. He was known as a sprinter but he also won after breaking clear of the main field.

He came third in the 1980 British National Road Race Championships and won the Manx Trophy. Herety, a chef, received a set of chef's knives when he won a stage of the 1980 Peace Race in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), a city proud of its steelworks.

He then joined the French team, Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, Europe's most successful sports club with fellow British riders Sean Yates and Jeff Williams. Herety won his second race for the ACBB which was a circuit of Toulon finishing in a bunch sprint. Herety spent one season with the ACBB and was offered a professional contract with Mercier riding alongside Joop Zoetemelk. However, a poor performance in the Tour de l' Aude resulted in him not being selected by the Coop-Mercier manager Jean–Pierre Danguillame. Herety explained: “My trouble is that I can’t recover quickly enough after a hard stage race or a race." "When I’ m racing abroad that is no good, with so many races to ride one after the other.” He was manager of Recycling.co.uk in 2006 and 2007, for 2008 this evolved into and for 2009 became Rapha Condor.

Personal life

Herety married Margaret (née Swinnerton) in winter 1983 and has a daughter named Georgia. Margaret is a sister to Mark, Paul, Catherine and Bernadette, all former international riders.

Palmarès

1978 3rd Southport 1979 1st Eastway 1st Grand Prix of Essex 1980 21st Olympic Games, Road race 4th Tour of the Pennines (pro-am) 3rd British National Road Race Championships (Amateur) 1st Manx Trophy 2nd Premier Calendar 2nd London – Glasgow 1st Stage 4, London – Glasgow 50th Overall, Peace Race 1st Stage 9, Peace Race

1981 2nd Stage 5, Sealink International 1st GP de Peymenaide 1st GP de Sanary 1st GP de St Maxime 1st Paris–Rouen

1982 1st British National Road Race Championships (Professional) 3rd Stage 4, Tour Méditerranéen, Fréjus 1st Harrogate 1st Prologue, Tour d'Indre et Loire 2nd Grand Prix Pino Cerami 2nd Stage 2, Leeuwarden-Noord Scharwoude 2nd Stage 2, Ronde van Nederland, Noord Scharwoude 3rd Stage 4, Tour du Mediterranean, Cavalaire-Fréjus 16th Gent–Wevelgem 62nd Paris–Brussels

1983 2nd Glossop 2nd Stage 5, Paris – Nice, La Seyne 3rd Wingene 3rd Glasgow 3rd Manchester

1984 58th Gent–Wevelgem

1986 58th Nissan Classic

1987 2nd Professional British National Road Race Championships 2nd Eastway 1st Stage 10, Milk Race, Ipswich 2nd Wexford

1988 2nd Stage 9, Milk Race, Hull 3rd Windermere