Robert Spears (cyclist)
Robert " Bob" Spears ( born November 19, 1893 in Sydney, Australia, † July 5, 1950 in Paris, France) was an Australian cyclist.
Career
Robert Spears drove as a boy like wheel, and at the age of 17 he played his first bike race. In 1911 he became an Australian champion in the sprint. Shortly after he won together with Reggie McNamara, the six-day race in his hometown.
From 1912, Spears went primarily race in the U.S., including several six-day race with good finishes. In 1918 he came to Europe, where he drove mainly in Paris for the first time. In 1920 he won the world championship in the sprint at the Track World Championships in Antwerp and was the first Australian to have won a Professional Cycling Championships. In the same year as well as 1921 and 1922 he won the sprint classic " Grand Prix de Paris". During these years he was regarded as the fastest sprinter in the world.
Spears remained professional racing cyclist until the year 1931. 1950 he traveled, already seriously ill enough to return to Europe to meet his old European companions. On July 5, 1950, he died at the American Hospital in Paris - Neuilly.