Friday, March 29, 2024

Ian Steel

-

We learnt with sadness yesterday that Scottish rider Ian Steel had passed away, at the age of 86.

Ian became national champion in 1952 and rode and won the famous Peace Race by taking the lead on stage eight of twelve as his British team won both the individual and team titles.

We thought readers would appreciate revisiting out interview with Ian from a few years ago.

* * *

Ian Steel – Peace Race Winner

By Ed Hood, first published 29th December 2011

The story that the East European propaganda machine circulated after the 1952 Peace Race was that the “Westerner” winner Ian Steel had been approached by his country’s intelligence agency before he travelled to the race and was asked to; ‘keep his eyes open’ whilst behind the Iron Curtain – to spy, in other words.

The rider declined and received a telegram from his employer on the day he won, firing him from his job.

All nonsense, of course.

But the Peace Race wasn’t just a bike race; it was where the East could battle with the West in the Cold War – and demonstrate their physical and mental superiority over the decadent Capitalists.

‘The Peace Race,’ Warsaw to Berlin to Prague.

When I was a boy it was spoken of in hushed tones.

The 1952 East German book devoted to Steel’s win , the only book ever published dealing with a single Peace Race.

The East European riders were the hardest of the hard – as they had no problems demonstrating when they came to the UK to: ride the Milk Race and its little brother, the Scottish Milk Race.

Born in 1928, he’ll be 83 in December 2011, but still slim, fit and sharp as a tack.

They dominated the amateur world championships – road and team time trial; and won every notable amateur stage race world-wide.

During the entire history of the Peace Race from 1948 to 1989 there were few Western winners and no English speaker ever won.

Except one that is, in 1952, the year we mentioned in our opening paragraph – the rider was Ian Steel of Scotland.

As Steel himself says;

“We were very unpopular winners, there was supposed to be a Tatra car for the winner and motorbikes for the winning team – but they never materialised.”

And as VeloVeritas pal and Peace Race aficionado, Ivan explains; “Traditionally the leader of the race would wear a yellow jersey which bore Picasso’s representation of the white dove of peace.

“But not Steel, he wore a plain yellow one while Stablinski, an earlier leader of the race was given one with the dove; the same was true of the blue jerseys of the leading team, no dove on the blue jerseys given to the GB team while earlier leaders, the GDR, were given blue jerseys with the white dove.

“And there were no laps of honour for Steel and the GB team in Prague.”

Ian Steel at Prague Airport about to fly home in 1952 after having won the Peace Race.

Steel takes up the story;

“There had been Danish winners in the past but they weren’t seen as being as close to the Americans as the British; and Britain was a member of Nato, unlike Denmark.”

Official East german program cover 1952.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for their performance the team was well looked after;

“We had a great interpreter with us all the time and at the end of every stage there was a boy or girl scout there for you to take your bike and give you a blanket to wrap yourself in – and hot mug of tea.”

The win may have been an unpopular one with the East Europeans but the British Government didn’t want the team to go in the first place;

“‘If you go over there on a British passport then we wash our hands of you’ they told us,”

says Steel. He recalls that it was an alternative British group which met the team in Poland, not official embassy staff.

Ivan explains; “there was GB consular representation in all three Peace Race cities but they would not be interested in looking after some cyclists.”

And Steel’s BLRC (British League of Racing Cyclists) team was the ‘second choice’ GB squad for the race – the original invite went to the BLRC’s bitter rivals, the NCU (National Cyclists Union) who refused it.

The welcoming of the teams fell to Marshall Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshall of Poland and Polish Defence Minister.

Steel remembers;

“He was very animated – but that was probably the vodka!

“All of the teams had a greetings message prepared for the Marshall, but of course, we didn’t.

“Bev Wood suggested ‘bollocks!’, so when it came round to our turn to meet the Marshall, we chanted in unison; ‘Bollocks!'”

Konstantin Rokossovsky, who the team greeted with the cry of ‘Bollocks’. It’s no exaggeration to say he was one of the most powerful men in the world in 1952, illustrated by the fact that he presented the great Victory over Fascism parade in Moscow in 1945.

Steel also recalls that the squad had no team uniforms;

“Les Scales was the only one with a blazer so he was chosen to lay the wreath at the Soviet monument.”

The roads were every bit as bad as legend suggests;

“We had to wear goggles to protect our eyes from the coal dust.”

He also remembers that the Belgians had many mechanical problems;

“They were constantly breaking frames. The Italians were on lovely bikes, I remember that their spokes gleamed – ours were dull.

“They offered the Belgians their spare bikes, which had Campagnolo Paris-Roubaix gears; I had to teach the Belgian riders how to use them!

Official East german program cover 1952.

There was a French/Polish team too – for second generation Poles living in France.

“They were good but didn’t ride in a coordinated manner; they had Jean Stablinski on the team who went on to be world professional road race champion.”

The GB team made friends in the right places, as Steel says;

“The German TV reporters took to us and before the Berlin stage they said to us,’the GDR (East German) team is going for it today.’

“We were in the second echelon and held them, but it was a very hard stage with the cross wind and the pavé.”

The mountains of Czechoslovakia suited the GB team better. Steel took the jersey on stage eight and defended it until the bitter end.

Steel recalls that team manager Percy Stallard had the situation under control;

“He could fall out with anyone but we could get round him and he was very good tactically.

“We all had four danger riders numbers marked on our stems and those were the ones we had to keep an eye on.

“Whilst Frank Seal’s job was to stay with me all the time, he had the same size of bike as me.

“Our tactics on the last stage were simple; Percy Stallard said; ‘whatever happens, don’t let Vesely get away!'”

Vesely was a national hero in Czechoslovakia, winning the Peace Race overall in 1949 and 16 stages over the years he rode it – as well as the Tour of Slovakia in 1955.

“At the finish in Prague, Vesely congratulated me.”

recalls Steel.

The victorious GB team in the Strahov Stadium in Prague after the final stage of the 1952 Peace Race , there were 225,000 spectators present that afternoon, the riders are , left to right : Les Scales , Bev Wood , Ian Greenfield , Ian Steel , Frank Seel and Ken Jowett.

In the book on Vesely by Josef Pondelik, ‘A Life in the Peloton’ the Czech rider said that he; ‘admired the GB team’s solid team work, cool under pressure and their stone confidence.’

There was very little fuss made over the individual and team victory in the UK, Steel remembers;

“It was no big deal, there was a 12 word Reuters report; the left-wing ‘Daily Worker’ (now The Morning Star) covered it and there was a photo in the ‘Picture Post’ magazine.”

But East/West divide or no, the Peace Race remembers its own and in 1968 he was invited to the 20th anniversary race, Steel remembers;

“Gustave Schur started the race, he released the doves of peace. I sat in a press car for the first stage, the reporters were all asleep, they’d been boozing!

“Tave Schur was a real character, he won the race in 1955 and 59.

“The year I won he was awarded a piglet as a prize on one stage; he let it loose at one of the official dinners – chaos!”

Gustav – Adolf Schur with the pig he won as a prize in the 1952 Peace Race.

On the 50th anniversary of Steel’s win one of his friends contacted the Largs & Millport Wee Paper who interviewed him.

Then Glasgow Evening Times picked up on the story – ‘Forgotten Hero’ was the headline.

VeloVeritas can but agree with those sentiments.

We’d like to acknowledge the help given to us by our friend Ivan,
whose knowledge and enthusiasm were essential in our preparation of this piece.

VeloVeritas
VeloVeritas
Here at VeloVeritas, we provide our readers with truthful, accurate, unique and informative articles about the sport we love. We attend many local races as well as work on the professional circuit, from the local "10" mile time trial to the "monuments" - classics like Milan-SanRemo and the Tour of Lombardy, the World Road and Track Championships, the winter Six Days and the Grand Tours; le Tour de France, il Giro d'Italia and la Vuelta a España.

Lewis Oliphant

This is the least favourite part of having our own wee website; writing the obituaries of bright young men with most of their lives still ahead of them. This past week we lost Lewis Oliphant, perhaps best known for his exploits on the grass track. At VeloVeritas we knew Lewis but couldn't claim to know him well; what we've done then is to ask for people who were close to let us have their tributes.

E.V. Ernie Mitchell – R.I.P.

We learnt recently that Ernie Mitchell, or 'E.V.' as he was known, Scottish star of the 1950's has passed away. As a tribute to him we thought we would re-run the interview he gave us last year where he told us about being the first man in the country to break the two-hour mark for 50 miles, virtually owning the pursuit crown and motor pacing behind his brother's bus ...

Jim Moore

Rest in peace, Jim Moore, the British ex-pro who emigrated to Canada in 1974 enjoyed a long and varied career, from amateur road and track man in the UK to ‘independent’ in France, representing GB in the 1964 Tour de l’Avenir, a ride in the Skol Six Day, and a successful pro career in the UK before crossing the Atlantic.

It’s 10 Years since we lost Laurent Fignon

As Julian Alaphilippe defended his maillot jaune in the first mountain stage of le Tour today, it’s 10 years since we lost another man who not only wore that beautiful jersey but won it outright twice in 1983 and 1984. Monsieur Laurent Fignon. Here’s what I wrote about the man back on that sad day in 2010.

Jason MacIntyre, lost to us 15 years ago

It's 15 years today - 15:01:08 - since we lost Jason MacIntyre. We thought it would be a nice tribute to re-run the interview we did with him after one of his biggest triumphs, the 2006 British 25 mile Championship, which was also our 'launch' article. Rest in Peace, Jason - you were 'special.

Dimitri De Fauw

It's easy to write an obituary when one of your heroes dies - probably more so if you don't know them well. There's just the legend, palmares, anecdotes and the sadness. But I knew Dimitri De Fauw, not well, but I worked at maybe half-a-dozen Six Day races where he was riding.

Daniël (Danny) Willems

In Scotland the last two weeks have seen us lose two fine young men from our cycling scene; gone before their time, Ben Abrahams and Dougie Young. But over in the Belgian Heartland they’ve suffered too – with the recent passing of Daniel (Danny) Willems at 60 years of age. ‘Who’s Danny Willems?’ I hear you ask. I’m not surprised you should ask that; there’s been very little reaction to Willems demise - but those of my generation remember him as tall, stylish, classy and a big name in pro cycle sport in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Raymond Poulidor

Sadly, on 13th November at the age of 83 – he was born on April 15th 1936 – Raymond Poulidor, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur left us. Rest in peace, Monsieur Raymond Poulidor – second in le Tour but winner in the hearts of the French public.