The Archer Grand Prix was part of the

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

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History

The Archer Grand Prix was run annually for over fifty years, organised by Stuart Benstead of the

Archer Road Club The Archer Road Club is a cycling club in London, England. The club has produced national, UCI Track World Championships, world and Olympic Games, Olympic champions. Formation and early history Archer Road Club was founded in 1926 as a breakawa ...

(although Stuart Cook organised the last two events in 2006 and 2007). It was described by

as a "long running classic". The first edition was held in 1956 and won by British rider, Alfred Howling. 1968 saw the first non-British winner when Jan Krekels of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

won the race. The race has in the past, adopted the name of its main sponsor, including

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

Pernod Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod (brand), Pernod'' or ''Ricard (liqueur), Ricard''). The world's second-largest wine and ...

and

Cycling Weekly ''Cycling Weekly'' is the world's oldest cycling publication. It is both a weekly cycling magazine and a news, features and buying advice website. It is published by Future plc, Future. It used to be affectionately referred to by British club c ...

. Consistently routed around the roads and lanes of the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

, the most recent route was split into a large and small circuit. The large circuit took in Whiteleaf Hill and

Hughenden Valley Hughenden Valley (formerly called Hughenden or Hitchendon) is an extensive village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, just to the north of High Wycombe. The civil parish is still named ''Hughenden'' as of 2024. It is almost in size, d ...

while the small finish circuit included the finish at Winchmoor Hill. The 2007 edition was won by Simon Gaywood riding for the Plowman Craven Associates team from Matt Talbot (Rapha Condor) and Andy Roche (Pinarello). The 53rd version of the race was scheduled to run in Spring 2008 but had to be cancelled because of policing issues. The future of the race then became uncertain; it was scheduled to be held again on 19 April 2009, but sponsorship problems led to a second cancellation.

Winners

References

{{reflist Cycle races in England Recurring sporting events established in 1956 Men's road bicycle races 1956 establishments in England UCI Europe Tour races Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2007 2007 disestablishments in England Defunct cycling races in the United Kingdom