Date June English name Manx Trophy Editions c. 54 Discipline Road bicycle racing First edition 1936 | Region Isle of Man Type Single day race Competition Premier Calendar First winner Charles Holland Edition 54 | |
Most wins Jean Baldessari
Tom Simpson
Seamus Elliot
Paul Curran
(2 times) | ||
The Manx Trophy or Isle of Man International Road Race is a bicycle road race run annually on the Isle of Man. In the 1960s the race attracted the world's top professional cyclists including Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx.
The race was a feature of the Isle of Man cycling festival, an annual event which ran from 1936 to 2003 and was started by journalist and cycling enthusiast Curwen Clague. The first festival included a massed-start road race (a rarity in mainland Britain at the time but allowed in the Isle of Man, a self-governing crown dependency) which featured the top riders of the day. Despite closed roads the race saw many crashes and only a few riders finished. The first winner was Charles Holland of Birmingham, later one of the first two Englishmen to ride the Tour de France.
The first event involved riders racing a single lap of the famous TT circuit of 37.75 miles (60.75 km). The course runs from Douglas to Ramsey then climbs for 5 mi (8 km) to a high point on the mountain of Snaefell at 1,384 ft (422 m) before descending to Douglas. The distance was later increased to two and then three laps (113 mi or 182 km).
The Manx Trophy was reintroduced in April 2016 as a one-day race by Manx International Cycling Ltd, named the Manx International Cycling GP, forming part of the British Cycling Spring Cup over 3 laps of the TT Mountain Circuit, as the Island prepares a second bid to host the National Road Race Championships for 2018.
Winners (not a complete list)
as Manx International Cycling GP (www.manxinternational.com)