Full name Steve Joughin Name Steve Joughin 1983–1986 Moducel | Rider type Sprinter Discipline Road Role Cyclist | |
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Nickname Pocket Rocket
Little Big Man Born 23 June 1959 (age 64)
Isle of Man
United Kingdom ( 1959-06-23 ) 1980 Manchester Wheelers' Club | ||
1985 Northampton Michelin grand prix!
Steve Joughin (born 23 June 1959) is a former professional Manx road racing cyclist. He was the first Manxman ever win the British professional road race title. He is arguably one of the best UK riders of his generation, riding in the 1980s which was the golden age of British racing.
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Cycling career
His first cycling race as a youngster was around King Georges Park in Douglas racing in jeans and trainers. However he enjoyed the camaraderie of racing and soon joined the Manx Road Club. By the age of 16 he realised he had talent and won the Merseyside divisional road race championships in 1976 and 1977. He then became the first Manx rider to win the national junior road race series and the British Junior Road race championship. In 1978 he competed in the individual road race at the Commonwealth Games, finishing 27th after crashing on the final lap. The gold medal was won by Phil Anderson. The race featured in a National Film Board of Canada documentary about cycle racing called 'Cycling: Still The Greatest' (https://www.nfb.ca/film/cycling/). The documentary also features footage of Joughin (then an amateur rider who was still working full-time in a garage) training in the Isle of Man.
In 1980 he won the Premier Calendar series, whilst riding for the all conquering Manchester Wheelers' Club. However he missed out on selection for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. At the end of the 1980 season Joughin decided he would spend the 1981 season living and racing in France However he didn’t settle and was back within a few months. As he wasn’t prepared to live in a hovel scratching around trying to win races in the hope of being offered a professional contract. Instead he opted to live and race in the UK, now and again beating the big stars when they came over. The following season he again won the Premier Calendar series and competed at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. However the highlight was arguably winning a Stage in the Sealink International after outsprinting Dirk De Wolf, the eventual race winner. He was also third in the British National Road Race Championships, the race was won by Jeff Williams. Joughin then turned professional in 1983, aged 23, with the Moducel team which was based in Staffordshire. In only his second season as a professional he won the British National Road Race Championships in 1984. The race was held on the home soil for Joughin, in the Isle of Man and attracted huge crowds. Joughin was in chasing group which caught the main breakaway within sight of the finish. Joughin launched his sprint with 250 metres to go, went past Malcolm Elliott, and then past Bill Nickson just 50 metres from the line.
In 1986 Joughin won two stages of the Milk Race leaving behind Djamolidine Abdoujaparov. After four seasons with Moducel he joined Percy Bilton riding alongside Bob Downs and John Herety. That same season he had arguably his greatest ever victory winning stage three in the 1987 Kellogg's Tour of Britain from Manchester to Birmingham, beating some of the biggest names in the sport of cycling such as Sean Kelly. Joughin got into a breakaway and then went clear with Stuart Coles as the race approached Perry Barr on the outskirts of Birmingham. The pair stayed clear of the field all the way to the finish line in Victoira Square in Birmingham city centre, with Joughin winning the sprint comfortably (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bPb3mlkqMM)
In 1988 he had one season riding for Ever Ready alongside Tony Doyle and again won the British National Road Race Championships in Newport, Shropshire. However, after just one season he returned to Percy Bilton riding alongside Paul Curran. After notching up 200 wins as an amateur and 80 as pro Joughin retired from racing in 1991. His last season was riding for K.J.C. - Revelation.
Joughin showed that he could beat some of the fastest men in the world in bunch sprints. However, it's misleading to pigeon-hole him as purely a sprinter - most of his big wins came from sprinting to victory after going clear in breakaways, including his wins in the 1987 Kellogg’s Tour of Britain and in the British Road Race Championship in 1984 and 1988.
Post-cycling career
Today Joughin lives in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where he has run his cycle clothing business, Pro Vision, along with his son Ben, since 1996.