Cycling Career

Aged 19, he represented Scotland at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Becoming one of the most promising young cyclists in Britain, he was then invited by the country’s greatest ever Tour de France cyclist, Robert Millar, to join France’s top club, the ACBB, in Paris.

Brian spent two years with the ACBB before turning professional with the Banana/Falcon team, with whom he won the 1991 British professional road race championship in his first pro’ season. Brian enjoyed a series of fine results in the national championships: second in 1992 and 1993 and champion again in 1994.

But it was the 1994 season that saw Brian scale the heights of professional cycle racing. He signed for one of the world’s top teams, Motorola. It was a predominantly American squad with some talented riders: Giro d’Italia winner Andy Hampsten, Canadian classics specialist Steve Bauer, Australian legend Phil Anderson . . . and a young, ambitious American by the name of Lance Armstrong.

When Brian joined Motorola, Armstrong had just burst on to the scene, winning a stage of the Tour de France and becoming one of the youngest ever world champions. He raced the 1994 season in the distinctive rainbow jersey of world champion.

Yet the highlight of Brian’s year with Motorola was not the opportunity to ride alongside the future seven-time Tour de France winner, but to compete in the world’s second biggest stage race, the Giro d’Italia, or Tour of Italy.

With Motorola, Brian did what many riders don’t achieve: he finished a three-week stage race that was acknowledged by many as one of the hardest ever. The 1994 Giro was won by Evgeni Berzin, with future Giro-Tour winner Marco Pantani second and five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain third.

For 1995 Brian joined Team Plymouth, riding the American professional circuit for two years, and representing Britain at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 – the first games to which professionals were admitted.

In 1997 Brian returned to the UK and established a home-based professional team.

Brian, with his professional team now sponsored by Active Office, competed in his third Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 (he also went to Auckland in 1990), before retiring from cycling in 1999.