ANC-Halfords Cycling Team

ANC-Halfords Cycling Team was a British-based professional team that was created in 1985 but folded in 1987 due to a lack of funds. The team used Peugeot cycles with Campagnolo components.

ANC-Halfords was formed in 1985 by the transport operator Tony Capper and the former racing cyclist Phil Griffiths, who had plans to get the team into the Tour de France. The team competed on the Continent and in Britain. In Britain, the British Cycling Federation limited teams to six riders, while continental squads had 20 or more. To get around this, the squad in Britain split into three different teams with different sponsors e.g. Lycra-Halfords. On the Continent, all the riders rode under one team name.

In 1987, ANC got a wildcard invitation to ride the 1987 Tour de France. The team were inexperienced as only Graham Jones had ridden a major stage race. The team turned up in Berlin and were promised the best equipment such as specialist time-trial cycles. Instead, they rode the opening time trial on standard road bikes, with only four disc wheels between nine riders. Only four riders made it to Paris. The only success was Malcolm Elliot's third place on one stage.

Joey McLoughlin won the first Kellogg's Tour of Britain and Malcolm Elliot won two stages in the Nissan Classic in Ireland. By the end of the season, the team ran out of money and was no more.

The team's period in the Tour de France and the chaos that surrounded it is captured in "Wide-eyed and Legless" by the British writer Jeff Connor.

Notable riders

* Malcolm Elliot.After ANC, Elliott rode for several continental squads including the Spanish Teka team with which in 1989 he won the points jersey in the Tour of Spain. He is the only British rider apart from Robert Millar to win a classification in a grand tour. After racing in Europe, Elliot had a successful stint on the U.S. pro circuit which included a stage in the Tour du Pont. At 47, Elliot is still racing as a professional in the Pinerello-Candi tv team.

* Joey McLoughlin.After winning the 1986 Milk Race and the 1987 Kellogg's tour, McLoughlin was tipped to become the best British cyclist since Tom Simpson. After ANC, he signed to the French Z squad. Constant injuries robbed McLoughlin of his potential and he retired in 1991.

* Shane Sutton.The Australian rider went on to win the 1990 Milk Race with the Banana-Falcon squad. Sutton settled in Britain and now works as a coach with the British track cycling team.