Britain's first Paris-Roubaix Finisher

(Image credit: Jules Beau (1864-1932))

At the very first Paris-Roubaix in 1896 one young Welshman came very close to getting on the podium. Vern Pitt explores the story of the rapid rise and demise of Arthur Linton.

They can’t have known exactly what they were letting themselves in for in 1896. As 51 riders set off from Paris at 5.30am in search of the 1,000 Franc first prize among them was two  young Brits.

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.