Britain's first Tour de France stage winner, Brian Robinson, seeks home for memorabilia collection

Brian Robinson, the first British rider to win a stage of the Tour de France, is looking for museum of public exhibition space to provide a temporary home in his native Yorkshire for his collection of cycling memorabilia.

The collection was amassed during a career that coincided with those of greats of the sport such as Jacques Anquetil, Louison Bobet and Charly Gaul.

In 1955, Robinson – who as we reported last week has had a beer named Stage Winner in his honour – and Great Britain team mate Tony Hoar became the first riders from the country to complete the Tour de France.

Among the memorabilia is a bidon signed by both riders from that race, as well as the shoes Robinson wore and his copy of the road book.

Other items include a Gitane bicycle from the period similar to the one that Robinson would have ridden, and a replica Gitane/St Raphael team jersey.

Now aged 83, he said: "I'm extremely proud that the Tour is coming to my home county and it would be brilliant if we can find a home for these rare items while the race is here and in the lead up to it too.

“I have kept things which of course have wonderful memories for me, like my shoes and even the original 1955 Tour road book, but I'd love to be able to share those memories with the public."

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, added: "Brian is a fantastic ambassador for the Tour, our winning bid and for us at Welcome to Yorkshire – he is tireless in promoting Yorkshire as a great county to cycle in and a true Tour legend.

“We want to make sure that we can get these wonderful items out on display for the public. If anyone who feels that they can provide a perfect venue for an exhibition we would be very happy to hear from them."

In 1958, Robinson picked up the first of his two Tour de France stage wins after the first man across the line in Brest, Italy’s Arigo Padovan, was relegated. The following year, he won a stage to Chalon-sur-Saône by 20 minutes.

Other highlights of his career included third place at Milan-San Remo in 1957, and winning the overall plus two stages in the 1961 Critérium de Dauphiné Libéré.

Robinson, who still gets out on his bike twice a week, added: "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see my stuff on display. It's all about showing that we here in Yorkshire have a great sporting heritage and inspiring the riders of the future."

Any organisation able to help him is asked to //ongpoucher [at] yorkshire.com" target="_blank">email Welcome to Yorkshire’s Graham Poucher at or contact him by phone on 01133 223500.