Phil Anderson

Philip Grant Anderson (born 20 March 1958) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist who was the first non-European to wear the yellow jersey of the Tour de France.

Origins Phil Anderson was born in London but moved to Melbourne, Australia, when he was young. He grew up in the suburb of Kew and graduated from Trinity Grammar School in 1975. He first raced with Hawthorn Cycling Club, where Allan Peiper, another future professional, was also a member. Peiper said: "Phil went to a private school and joined the club with his mate, Peter Darbyshire. My best friend was Tom Sawyer, later a six-day racer in Europe, and we were the two rough nuts, while Phil and Darbs were the two upper-class boys". and the Australian team time-trial championship at Brisbane in 1978. In that year he also won the Commonwealth Games road race in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was 19.

He moved to France in 1979 to join the ACBB,

He came fifth in the 1982 Tour de France, in which he held the white jersey of best young rider, and again fifth in 1985, the year he won the Tour de Suisse. That same season he finished second in the Super Prestige Pernod International, forerunner of the UCI points championship. His highlights were wearing the yellow jersey of the 1981 Tour de France and then again for nine days of 1982. He was the first rider from outside Europe to lead the race. Anderson described what it meant in 1981:

It happened in the Pyrenees. This was my first Tour de France. I didn't have aspirations of becoming the wearer of the yellow jersey or anything like that. I was given my instructions and I was supposed to look after a rider on my team, the team leader, a Frenchman, and I forgot my instructions and just sort of went into survival mode over a number of mountain passes, just staying up with some of the top riders, and before I knew it, my team director came up beside me in his car and told me, 'Listen, what happened to your leader, the guy that you've been instructed to watch today?' you know. And to help if he has any troubles, or just pace him back if he's having some troubles. And I said, 'Oh gee, that's right. Where is he?' And he said, 'he's five or ten minutes back, in the next group.' I said, 'No worries I'll wait up for him.' He said, 'No, no, stay up here, you're doing OK, just stay out of trouble and try and hang on as long as possible.'

So hang on I did, and whistled down the next mountain and got to the last climb and I stayed up with Bernard Hinault; there was one rider, a Belgian rider, Lucien Van Impe rode away, an excellent climber, he rode away and so we came in a couple of minutes later, but I had enough time from some good days previously, that I climbed into the yellow jersey, and I had no idea of what the sort of yellow jersey represented, because I mean there's so much history to it, and for me it was just like, 'Oh yes, great, I don't have to wash my old jersey tonight, you know, get a new one'. But really, you're sort of at the highest level of the sport.

His best year was 1985, when he won the Tour Méditerranéen, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de Suisse, as well as finishing second in the Tour of Flanders and Gent–Wevelgem. He continued to ride the Tour until 1989, when he came 38th, but by then he had arthritis. In 1991 he joined the American team, – "Speculation has it that he took a big pay cut; maybe that is what turned into motivation which resulted in his comeback to the big league", said Peiper

Retirement and honours Anderson retired to a farm he bought in Jamieson and has what he calls the life of a gentleman farmer. He was given the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 1987 Australia Day Honours for service to cycling. In 2000, he received the Australian Sports Medal and in 2001 he received a Centenary Medal for service to society through cycling. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015, he was an inaugural Cycling Australia Hall of Fame inductee.

Private life Anderson has married twice, first to Anne, whom he married just after turning professional, and then Christi Valentine, who in 1999 wrote Anderson's biography, Phil Anderson: Cycling Legend. Anderson and Valentine married on 29 April 1994 and separated in 2005. Anderson has been in a relationship with Anne Newell since 2006.

Career achievements Major results

1978

1st Stage 2 Red Zinger Bicycle Classic 1980 2nd Overall Étoile des Espoirs 1st Stage 3 3rd Overall Paris–Bourges 10th Paris–Tours 1981

1st Stage 6 Paris–Nice 6th Grand Prix de Cannes 7th Amstel Gold Race 7th Tour du Haut Var 9th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 9th Grand Prix de Monaco 10th Overall Tour de France

1982 4th Overall Tour de l'Aude 5th Overall Tour de France

1st Stage 2

5th Amstel Gold Race 6th Rund um den Henninger Turm 7th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 7th Gent–Wevelgem 8th GP Ouest-France 9th La Flèche Wallonne 1983

1st Stage 3 1st Amstel Gold Race 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie 1st Stage 5a 3rd Overall Paris–Bourges 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd Grand Prix de Wallonie 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

1st Prologue & Stage 3 6th Grand Prix de Monaco 7th Super Prestige Pernod International 8th Overall Tour Midi-Pyrénées 8th Giro di Lombardia 9th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 9th Overall Tour de France 9th Tour of Flanders 10th Rund um den Henninger Turm 1984

1st Stage 4b (ITT) 1st Züri-Metzgete 1st Rund um den Henninger Turm 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd Super Prestige Pernod International 4th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 5th Overall Tour de Suisse 5th Paris–Tours 7th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stage 6 7th Paris–Brussels 9th La Flèche Wallonne 9th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 10th Overall Tour de France 1985

1st Stages 3, 5b (ITT) & 8

1st Stage 1b

1st Stage 4b 1st Rund um den Henninger Turm 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 2nd Overall Tour of Belgium 1st Stages 2 & 3b (ITT) 2nd Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 1st Stages 2 & 3 2nd Tour of Flanders 2nd Gent–Wevelgem 2nd Super Prestige Pernod International 3rd Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 4th Overall Paris–Nice 1st Stage 4b (TTT) 4th Brabantse Pijl 4th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 5th Overall Tour de France 5th Amstel Gold Race 7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1986 1st Paris–Tours 3rd Overall Coors Classic 1st Stage 3 3rd Giro di Lombardia 5th Grand Prix d'Isbergues 9th Overall Nissan Classic 1st Stages 3b & 4 1987 1st Milano–Torino 5th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 6th Amstel Gold Race 7th Overall Giro d'Italia 7th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 7th Grand Prix Impanis 7th Druivenkoers Overijse 8th Grand Prix Pino Cerami 9th Rund um den Henninger Turm 10th Gent–Wevelgem 1988

1st Stage 3 Nissan Classic 1st Stage 2 & 4 2nd Tour of Flanders 2nd Milano–Torino 6th Züri-Metzgete 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 1 (ITT) 8th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 9th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 10th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1989

1st Stage 1 1st Stage 17 Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 5b Nissan Classic 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 4th Overall Three Days of De Panne 7th Overall Kellogg's Tour 1st Stage 2 10th Trofeo Pantalica 1990 Giro d'Italia

1st Stage 4b 1st Stage 5 Tour de Luxembourg 2nd Paris–Tours 4th Overall Three Days of De Panne 10th Amstel Gold Race 1991

1st Stages 1 & 3

1st Stages 5 & 6

1st Stage 6 1st Stage 10 Tour de France 1st Stage 8 Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 4 Tour DuPont 2nd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen 3rd US Pro Championship 7th Milan–San Remo 7th Züri-Metzgete 10th UCI Road World Cup 1992

1st Stage 4 1st Grand Prix d'Isbergues 3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 3rd Paris–Brussels 5th Overall Tour DuPont 1st Stages 5, 8 & 9 6th Paris–Tours 10th Overall Kellogg's Tour 1993

1st Stage 1

1st Stage 4 1st Grand Prix Impanis 7th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 1994

3rd Trofeo Luis Puig 3rd Monte Carlo–Alassio 9th Overall Tour de Luxembourg

General classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish