Colin Lewis

Lewis lived in Devon, and served as president of Mid-Devon Cycling Club. His wife, Pam, died in August 2010. He died from cancer in Bovey Tracey, on 4 March 2022, at the age of 79.

Lewis was the last Welshman to ride the Tour de France in 1968 until Geraint Thomas in 2007.

After racing in France he received offers to join the AC Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, often a stepping stone to professional teams and especially to Peugeot or to ride for a smaller British team, Mackeson-Condor. The sponsors were a brewing company and a London bicycle shop. He turned pro for £4 per week. Average weekly pay in Britain at the time was about £25. In 1967 he finished the Tour de France 84th and won the national road championship. Mackeson-Condor doubled his pay. In 1968 he won the road championship again, the only rider to win in successive years. He moved to another team, Holdsworth-Campagnolo, in 1969 and stayed there until he retired from professional racing in 1975.

In the 1967 Tour de France, Lewis rode with and shared a room with Tom Simpson, who died during the race while climbing Mont Ventoux. Lewis said: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}

Lewis represented Britain in the Tour de l'Avenir and the world championships at San Sebastian. He came 25th, the best British rider, in the individual road race at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Colin Lewis (27 July 1942 – 4 March 2022) was a British racing cyclist. He started racing at 19 and rode the Milk Race in 1960, finishing 7th.

Lewis was born in Abertysswg, Wales on 27 July 1942. He opened a cycle shop in 1976. He was manager of Eastway Cycle Circuit in Hackney, London, and spent seven years as training director at the South East Centre of Excellence.