Friday, March 29, 2024

John Mangan – Part Two; “The speakers used to call me ’The Irish Compressor’ or ‘The Irish Locomotive’

-

HomeInterviewsJohn Mangan - Part Two; "The speakers used to call me ’The...

John Mangan won 156 continental events and a raft of races in his native Ireland before he headed for France and huge success. Such was his strength both on and off the bike that for a decade he was head of the ‘Brittany Mafia’, the group of riders which controlled racing in the West France racing Heartland.

As we mentioned in Part One of our interview with John, he reckoned that ‘in all the years I was there we only let two wins slip away from us.’…

We pick up our chat with John after discussing his ‘adventure’ at the Munich Olympics which involved hiding in the woods, the riders he respected most, how most of his 156 wins came through pure power, and of course, why the ‘Rider Mafia’ simply had to let him in…

How many seasons – and which one was the best?

“I rode 13 seasons in France, ’76 and ’79 would be my best but the thing about having great form is that it encourages you to keep racing, keep pushing and you pay for it the next season; you’ve gone too deep.

“It’s like a car battery, if you let it run too low it’ll perhaps never accept a full charge again.

“As for a favourite race, there was a crit on a cobbled circuit in Brittany which I won five times, I’d lap the field and if it rained there would be guys in heaps on the corners.

“And I remember having some super days in stage races – I had a philosophy that if I beat someone one day then there was nothing to stop me from beating them again the next day.

“The ‘speakers’ used to call me ‘Master John,’ or the ‘Irish Compressor’ but usually the ‘Irish Locomotive.’”

John Mangan
John in trouble following his Olympic protest. Photo©supplied

The inevitable question about guys ‘kitting up.’

“It went on – in stage races and the classics, but in the smaller races there were no controls.

“There were guys caught every year; the controls in Brittany and Normandie were more frequent than in other parts of France where racing wasn’t such a big deal; in central France there would be practically no controls.

“But up in the northwest the prize money was the best so they knew guys would be tempted.

“It’s not true to say that it was ‘a part of the scene,’ management frowned upon it – it was bad public relations for the team sponsors.

“If riders were caught then the talk was; ‘what about the rest of the team, are they on it too?

“When Tom Simpson died in 1967 that was the start of them getting serious about controls and by the end of the 60’s they were getting their act together.”

Did you never think about going professional?

“Yes and I had offers but initially there was the political situation with the federation I was affiliated to and by the time the Irish Federations were unified, I was too old.

“And there was the financial aspect, there was good money to be made racing as I did, you got your primes on the day and your cheque with your prize money for the year would come through from the French Federation before Christmas.”

John Mangan
Ouch. John checks out his wounds following a spill. Photo©supplied

I remember the English guy, Dave Wells was a contemporary of your on the Brittany scene and he went pro, didn’t he?

“He was a good rider, winning the amateur Grand Prix des Nations time trial; he did turn pro but didn’t do anything.

“I remember we rode the same criterium a few days after his Nations win – I put two laps into him.”

And you rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names of the day?

“Yes, I’d get rides in the pro criteriums but we’d often meet up with the pros on our way back from races.

“In Saint Brieuc there was the famous Cafe de la Gare (Station cafe) where we’d all meet up on the way back from races, perhaps we’d been racing in the south and the pros had been riding a nocturne somewhere.

“We’d have a bit to eat and a drink there; Luis Ocana was a regular – he was a really nice fellow, great company, sometimes we’d come out of there at 3:oo am!”

Your last race was September 23rd 1984, was there sadness?

“No, my mind was made up the year before – and I almost finished up in ’83, we were three or four miles into a race and guy crashed right in front of me.

“When I quit I can’t say I was sad, my mind was made up and I’d had a good career.

“I could have done another year or two but it would have been very hard, as you get older your recovery gets harder and there’s no way I’d have been able to race 28 days out of 30 anymore!

“Like I said about batteries, earlier – they can only take a full charge on so many occasions.”

John Mangan
Photo©supplied

Less well known is that you were handy on the track, too?

“Yes, I had the Irish hour record with 41.72 kilometres that stood for a while with several riders going after it but falling short.

“But probably my finest hour on the track was at a track meeting in Henanbihen.

“I was in the same team, Vitfrance as Daniel Morelon the famous track sprinter and I’d found out he was being paid more than money than me by the sponsor – I wasn’t happy!

“He was just back from the 1976 Montreal Olympics where he won the silver medal in the sprint and I put two laps into him in the distance race!”

Your career encompassed the careers of all the Irish ‘greats,’ what are you memories of them?

“I never raced against Shay Elliott but by all accounts he was a good guy.

“Sean Kelly was a fantastic rider; he likes to go hunting and has been down here a few times to stay with us.

“Stephen Roche’s performance in winning the Giro, Tour and Worlds speaks for itself – in the case of Sean and Stephen here in Ireland I don’t think folks realise just how good they really were.

“And there was Mark Scanlon, he won the junior Worlds and was very classy – but he couldn’t climb.”

John Mangan
Photo©supplied

Has any use ever been made of your huge experience and contacts by the ‘powers that be?’

“No, the centre of everything like that is Dublin; although I often help guys get into teams through my contacts.

“Eugene Moriarty is a Kerry lad I’ve helped over the years; he’s still racing at 43 years-of-age.”

And how did your present hunting gig come about?

“Hunting is a big thing in France and a lot of cyclists are into it; it gets you out in the winter, walking for miles, good for the fitness and the mind.

“The thing about being a full time bike rider is that you develop a massive appetite and that’s hard to suppress so the hunting is good exercise until it’s time to start on the bike again.

“Of well known riders the guy who won Paris-Roubaix twice, Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle was big into it and of course Fausto Coppi died as a result of an infection he picked up while hunting in Africa.

“I mentioned to people in France that the area where I lived in Ireland was good for snipe and woodcock – and deer. Guys came over, one thing lead to another and that’s how we started.”

John Mangan
John certainly had an aura about him. Photo©supplied

Do you keep in touch with many folk from the ‘old days?’

“Not too many, JP Maho was here and Andre Chalmel comes over; Andre won the GP Isbergues and Bordeaux-Paris.

“I’ve made a lot of contacts through the shooting and have been invited to hunts in Russia, Romania and Estonia as well as France.”

Regrets?

“I’d love to have been able to compete in the Olympics and Worlds but was very nationalistic and wouldn’t sell out and join a federation I didn’t believe in.

“I wouldn’t take the 30 pieces of silver.

“That said I’d have loved to ride the Tour and raced against guys like Jonathan Boyer who’d finish top 12 in the Tour.

“He came down from Paris to race against us one time, he was a driving a lovely Mercedes – he had a wealthy relative who helped him financially – we put two laps into him in a criterium.”

John Mangan
John is interviewed by Jean-Yves le Moal, the ‘King of the Podiums’. Photo©supplied

And that seemed like a good place to end – last word on John Mangan goes to Jean-Yves Le Moal, ‘le Roi des podiums’ (the King of the podiums) and ‘speaker’ at hundreds of French races in the 70’s and 80’s.

When asked for his best memory of the sport, he nominated being the ‘speaker’ at John Mangan’s last race in Ploubalay, where he scored his 156th victory.

That says it all.

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed's been involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he's been a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He's also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months was often working in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed remains a massive fan of the sport and couples his extensive contacts with an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the minutiae and the history of our sport. In February 2023 however, our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed suffered a devastating stroke and faces an uncertain future; Ed has lost his ability to speak, to read, and has lost movement on the right side of his body. He's working with speech and physical therapists on rehabilitation, but all strokes are different and each patient responds differently, so unfortunately recovery is one day at a time. Ed ran his own business installing windows, and will probably not be able to work again. Please consider joining us to make a contribution to Ed's GoFundMe page to help stabilise and secure his future.

Related Articles

Stephen Clancy – It’s time to look forward and “Changing Diabetes”

A signing which caught our eye was that of 20 year-old Irishman Stephen Clancy, joining Phil Southerland’s Team Type 1 Pro Continental squad. Last season the team took some big wins; notably ‘Philly’ – the Philadelphia International Championship, the USA’s biggest one day race where the spectators are measured in tens of thousands.

Willi Moore – “Winning Olympic bronze was the best day of my cycling career”

The legendary GB Team Pursuit quartet which won bronze in the 1972 Munich Olympics – Ron Keeble, Mick Bennett and Ian Hallam have all appeared on our pages but the missing piece was Willi Moore. However, thanks to the good offices of the aforementioned Mr. Keeble we caught up with the man who could do it all – time trials, road and, of course, the track – British, Commonwealth, World and Olympic medallist, Mr. W. Moore.

Jordan Kerby – New Aussie U23 TT Champion on His Team for 2014: Drapac

As we’re all too well aware, the sport has lost five top line teams for 2014 with no new teams coming in at Pro Continental or World Tour level to replace them; a sad state of affairs. But bucking the trend and moving up from Continental to Pro Continental level – the only team to do so - is Australian outfit, Drapac.

Ethan Hayter – World Team Pursuit Champion at 19

In 2016 in Belgium Ethan Hayter won the tough junior races, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, GP Serge Baguet, De Klijte-Heuvaelland, was in the winning team in junior European team pursuit champs and was British Madison champion with Joe Holt. Last year he won the u23 Berlin Six Day with Matt Walls, took a medal in every British track championship he rode and was part of the winning u23 Europeans team pursuit squad. This season he began training with the senior team in January and was world champion within weeks, at 19 years-of-age.

At Random

Mark Stewart – a Key Part of the British U23 World Championship Team in Bergen

The U23 Worlds in Bergen; a great race with a great finale with GB well there – Ollie Wood in fourth and our very own Mark Stewart a key part of the team which got Wood into a position to sprint for the bronze medal. We just had to ‘have a word’ with Scotland’s own double European track champion, Mr. Mark Stewart...

“The Escape Artist” by Matt Seaton

"The Escape Artist" by Matt Seaton, the critically acclaimed memoir about his obsession for cycling and how that obsession was tamed. For a time there were four bikes in Matt Seaton's life. His evenings were spent 'doing the miles' on the roads out of south London and into the hills of the North Downs and Kent Weald.

Rotterdam Six Day 2022 – the Last Three Nights

Saturday morning early, in the cabin at the Rotterdam Six Day 2022 – the cleaning ladies liked my choice of music and were giving me a little dance around their mops; I was going to go out and get some beers in but they said they had the rest of the stadium to clean...

Giro d’Italia 2012 – Stage 9: San Giorgio nel Sannio – Frosinone 171km. Pippo causa una caduta!

It looked to us like Cav and Goss were out of it anyway. There were a lot of riders round that wild bend in Frosinone before we saw Matt on the deck and Pippo looking a tad sheepish as he stood in the road checking to see how that nice Cipollini had stood up to being dropped.