Rob Hayles

14693Rob Hayles(M-GBR-CYC / 1996)

The son of a sprint cyclist turned coach; Rob Hayles worked at a brewery at the time he made the shortlist for the British team for the Barcelona Olympic Games. Although he eventually missed selection for the team pursuit he had established himself as a rising star and in 1993 won the national title in the kilometre time trial. This was the first of what would become fifteen national track titles in four separate disciplines, the kilometre, individual pursuit, madison and points race. After an inauspicious Olympic début in 1996 he suffered ill luck at the Sydney Games missing a medal in the individual pursuit then being brought down in a multi-rider crash whilst in second place in the Madison. Later in 2000 he won his first world championship medals on home boards in Manchester. For the next three years he concentrated on road racing and signed to ride for the French Cofidis team but a serious car crash in which he suffered a triple fracture of the pelvis impeded his progress and his only performance of note during his three seasons with Cofidis was a second place at the British Road Race Championships in 2002. At the end of 2003 he returned to the track and rejoined the British pursuit team to place second at the World Championships. This feat was repeated at the Athens Olympics and he also partnered [Bradley Wiggins] to bronze in the Madison.

His two world title victories were both recorded in 2005. A win as part of the team pursuit was not unexpected but his victory in the Madison alongside a precocious teenager called Mark Cavendish was a major surprise. The success continued in 2006 with appearances on the podium at the Commonwealth Games and Track World Championship but this proved to be the high point of his career. Suspended from the 2008 World Championship due to a high haematocrit level, he was overlooked for the Beijing Olympics and retired from the track at the end of the year though he did have of the satisfaction of being crowned British road race champion during the summer.

Hayles continued to race in British domestic road racing for a further three seasons until announcing his retirement in 2011. By then he had also begun a career as a television and radio commentator. He is married to former Olympic swimmer [Vicki Horner].