Frankie Thomas (cyclist)

{{Infobox cyclist

| name = Frankie Thomas

| image =

| caption =

| fullname = Frankie Thomas

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1906|11|28|df=yes}} Event registration number 8297 (1906) [https://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/indexsearch.doj Births Deaths & Marriages Victoria]

| birth_place = Bendigo, Australia

| death_date = 1978

| death_place = Melbourne

| height =

| weight =

| discipline = Road

| role = Rider

| ridertype =

| amateuryears1 =

| amateurteam1 =

| proyears1 =

| proteam1 =

| majorwins =

| medaltemplates =

| show-medals =

| updated =

}}

Frankie Thomas was an Australian racing cyclist who competed on both road and track, as was typical of Australian cyclists of the era such as Hubert Opperman.

Major results

;1929

:Fastest Gippsland 100 mile race{{r|GloSep29}}

;1930

: 5th Sydney to Melbourne stage race {{r| Globe29Oct30}}

:2nd fastest time Goulburn to Sydney {{r|SMHSep30}}

;1931

:Competed in the Tour de France but did not finish {{r|mdc1931}}

;1932

:2nd in Brisbane, Six Days, Brisbane (Queensland), Australia {{r|SMHAug32}}

:Fastest time in 140 mile Tour of Gippsland {{r|GloSep32}}

;1933

:Fastest time in Melbourne to Ballarat {{r|RefAug33}}

:Fastest time Goulburn to Sydney {{r|GlobeSep33}}

:2nd Tour of Tasmania{{r|GlobeNov33}}

;1936

:Fastest time 140 mile Tour of Gippsland {{r|RefOct36}}

Australian professional cycling career

Thomas rode as an amateur from 1926 to 1928 and turned professional in 1929.{{r|GlobeJun29}} In 1929 Thomas rode a Preston Star bicycle{{r|GloMay29}} but by 1930 he was riding for the Malvern Star bicycle company.{{r|CycScrap}}

In his first year as a professional, Thomas beat Opperman in a Gippsland {{convert|100|mi|km}} race.{{r|GloSep29}}

In 1930 Thomas set the second fastest time in the Goulburn to Sydney handicap race behind Opperman. {{r|SMHSep30}} Thomas rode in the Sydney to Melbourne stage race, a five-day stage race styled on the European races covering {{convert|706|mi|km}} in which the celebrity riders were Opperman and two Frenchmen, Joseph Mauclair and Jean Bidot. Thomas won stage 3 and was 2nd in stage 4 and stage 5.{{r|Globe22Oct30}} Mauclair won the race with Thomas finishing 5th overall. {{r| Globe29Oct30}}

Thomas rode in the 1931 Tour de France in a combined Australia/Switzerland team including Opperman, Ossie Nicholson and Richard "Fatty" Lamb. Thomas finished 56th in stage 1, 54th in stage 2. {{r|mdc1931}} Thomas had stomach trouble and did not finish stage 3.{{r|ArgusJul31}}

In 1932 Thomas finished 2nd with Archie McLannan in the Brisbane, Six Days behind Jack Standen and Fatty Lamb and ahead of Opperman and Jack Fitzgerald in 3rd.{{r|SMHAug32}} Thomas also set the fastest time in the {{convert|140|mi|km}} Tour of Gippsland {{r|GloSep32}}

In 1933 he set the fastest time in the Melbourne to Ballarat,{{r|RefAug33}} the fastest time in the Goulburn to Sydney {{r|GlobeSep33}} and finished 2nd in the Tour of Tasmania, a six-day stage race covering {{convert|566|mi|km}}, beaten by Fatty Lamb by just 1 second.{{r|GlobeNov33}}

In July 1934 Thomas was disqualified for 18 months for pushing P. Veitch in the Quayle road race at Ballarat, on 21 July 1934.{{r|RefJan36}}

Thomas returned to cycling in 1936 and set the fastest time in the {{convert|140|mi|km}} Tour of Gippsland.{{r|RefOct36}}

References

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article182529506 |title=Thomas Fastest. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=11 September 1929 |page=11|department=Cycling and Motor |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183987276 |title=Dashing Thomas. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=12 June 1929 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite web|url=http://cyclingscrapbook.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Sydney%20to%20Melbourne%201930%20road%20race|publisher=Reprinted in The Cycling Scrapbook|title=Australian Cycling 30 October 1930|accessdate=30 May 2015}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16705629 |title=Cycling |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 September 1930 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183000963 |title=First Blood to Oppy. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=22 October 1930 |page=11|department=Cycling and Motor|publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183001691 |title=In battle of wits. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=29 October 1930 |page=12|department=Cycling and Motor |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite web|url=http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1939/tdf1931.php |publisher=Memoire du cyclisme |title=25ème Tour de France 1931 |language=French |accessdate=29 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306131219/http://memoire-du-cyclisme.net/eta_tdf_1903_1939/tdf1931.php |archivedate=6 March 2012 }}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4405943 |title=Tour de France. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=4 July 1931 |page=21 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16921449 |title=Six Days' Race. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 August 1932 |page=13 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135310458 |title=Brilliance of Thomas. |newspaper=The Referee |location=Sydney, NSW |date=3 August 1933 |page=14 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181747122 |title=Neck and neck struggle. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=8 November 1933 |page=12|department=Cycling |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181742717 |title=Humphreys and McKenzie Win. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=20 September 1933 |page=12|department=Cycling |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135649443 |title=Case of Frank Thomas. |newspaper=The Referee |location=Sydney |date=16 January 1936 |page=19 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135644714 |title="Gippsland" comes to NS Wales. |newspaper=The Referee |location=Sydney |date=8 October 1936 |page=18 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183983507 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |date=1 May 1929 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189115705 |title=Thomas Rides Brilliantly For Fastest Time. |newspaper=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne, Vic. |date=24 September 1932 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

}}

External links

{{cycling Archives|25908}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160902152821/http://www.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/1931/coureurs/20.html Official Tour de France results for Frankie Thomas]

Category:1906 births

Category:Australian male cyclists

Category:Cyclists from Melbourne

Category:Year of death missing

Category:Sportsmen from Victoria (state)

Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen