Another of TB's great servants retires from Pro-Cycling this season in the form of Liam "The Robber" Roberts. Certainly one of TB's great riders and deserving of his place in the TB Hall of Fame, currently a joint TB record holder for most wins and a great example of how, on paper, a fairly average unfashionable rider can be nurtured into a top-quality mid-division rider.
Roberts early childhood was being brought up on his parents Kangeroo farm in the middle of the Australian outback. His parents were poor, so Liam cycled all over his parents huge farm lands. Through this he developed at an early age into a tough sprint cyclist. A tough uncompromising and uncouth rider, he refused to shave his legs or remove his beard, consequently he was rejected by every Pro-Cycling Club in Australia. He turned his back on cycling at the age of 16 and joined a travelling circus to Europe as Robbo the R...
Read moreAnother of TB's great servants retires from Pro-Cycling this season in the form of Liam "The Robber" Roberts. Certainly one of TB's great riders and deserving of his place in the TB Hall of Fame, currently a joint TB record holder for most wins and a great example of how, on paper, a fairly average unfashionable rider can be nurtured into a top-quality mid-division rider.
Roberts early childhood was being brought up on his parents Kangeroo farm in the middle of the Australian outback. His parents were poor, so Liam cycled all over his parents huge farm lands. Through this he developed at an early age into a tough sprint cyclist. A tough uncompromising and uncouth rider, he refused to shave his legs or remove his beard, consequently he was rejected by every Pro-Cycling Club in Australia. He turned his back on cycling at the age of 16 and joined a travelling circus to Europe as Robbo the Roo Boxer and developed his secondary passion of Exhibition Kangeroo Boxing. Upon visiting the UK, he decided to stay a bit longer - he had an ancestral visa through his grandparents and develop his act as a Kangeroo Cycle Boxer.
His natural talent soon caught the attention of an up and coming Pro-Cycle Outfit - Team Bobyn who were starting to develop a name for themselves for drawing togethor a collection of oddballs and miscreants for their youth academy and they were willing to take a chance on this rough-diamond.
Roberts signed Academy terms in S39 and spent most of that year finding his feet. The following season though he made an immediate impact with 5 placements and this was followed up in S41 with a further 4 placement as Roberts formed part of the now legendary TB Academy team that won the U23 Championship that season. Into the Pro-league the following seasons 42-45 were quiet ones for Roberts as he developed as a domestique under the shadow of Alan Michelsen.
An injury to Michelsen in S46 enabled Roberts to start to shine with good performances in the Oryx and this was followed up at the Sanreizen in the following year. Following Michelsen's retirement in S48, Roberts was promoted to Team Captain and duly paid back the loyalty placed upon him by securing his first win, 2 podiums, 6 placement and his highest ever ranking and Sprint Bronze in the Sanreizen the following season. Roberts continually provided a good consistent level of performance and developing a niche for himself as no-nonsense all-rounder specialising on final hill sprints and took the nickname of "The Robber" as so often he launched his sprints from nowhere on climbs taking victories or podiums away from more established riders.
After 5 years of holding the Captaincy, from S53, age and responsibility started to take it's toll on "The Robber" and he was replaced as Captain by Bugayev for S54. But to the last he showed his rugged determination and dogginess by picking up TB best D4 performance in the Minuteman Tour in his final season.
A no-nonsense and unconventional rider but with a huge determination and loyalty. He had a love-hate relationship with many of his team-mates, in particular Ace Glass, and was just as likely to square up for a fight with any of them as he would hug and kiss them (especially if he'd won). Sadly missed, fantastic character and TB look forward to welcoming "The Robber" to the Coaching TEam for S55.
Key Stats:(*TB records)
Wins: 4*
Podiums: 8
Tour GC: 2 S51 8th Cesko-Slovensky Pohar #3*
S49 3rd Tour of the Sanreizan, Sprint Classification*
Classics: 0
Placements: 37
Highest ever Ranking: 689th (S48)
Best Podium Performance: 1st both D6 Race Five #41(S53) /Plasencia -
Plasencia #36 (S48)
Highest ever Divisional Performance: 9th D4 Concord - Faneuil Hall #39
(S54)
Best Div4 Performance: As Above
Best Div5 Performance: 13th Århus - Vejle #33(S52)
Best Div6 Performance: As above
Best Div7 Performance: 1st Bhawanipatna - Baldhiamal #37 (S52)
1st Bandar-e-Bushehr #36 (S51)
Best Div8 Performance: 30th Vredendal - Vredendal #24 (S40)
Best Div9 Performance: Not competed
Best Div10 Performance: Not competed
Best Div11 Performance: Not competed
Best ND Performance: 4th Arecibo - Mayaguez (U23) #9 (S40 & 41)
Ukraine Record - N/A
U23 Honours
S41 U23 Champions (category 501-800)
Tour Record
Minutemen (D4)
GC N/A
Av.Pos. S54 51st*
Best Stage Performance: (S54) 9th Concord-Fanueil Hill*
Giro di Sicilia (D4)
GC N/A
Av.Pos. S51 60th
Best Stage Performance: (S51) 15th Catania - Siracusa #25
Fast on Wheels (D5)
GC N/A
Av.Pos. S51 37th
Best Stage Performance: S52 13th Århus - Vejle #33
Monte Rosa Tour (D5)
Best GC: Not recorded
Best Av. Place: S54 74th
Best Stage Perf: S54 Bern Prologue #41
Stone City (D5)
Best GC: N/A
Best Av. Place: 46th (S54)
Best Stage Perf: 39th Toshkent - Toshkent #6 (S54)
Oryx (D6)
Best GC: N/A
Best Av. Place: (S46) 26th
Best Stage Perf: (S46) 6th St. Oshakati – Namutoni #5
Cesko-Slovensky-Pohar (D6)
GC: S51 8th*
Av.Pos. S51 17th*
Best Stage Performance: S51 Brno-Trnava 5th*
Four River Cup (D7)
GC N/A
Av.Pos S50 27th
Best stage Performance S50 Duna-Koros 14th.
Tour of Sanreizen (D7)
GC - n/a
Sprint Classification - S49 3rd*
Av.Pos - S49 21st*
Stage Performance 3rd S47 Fuji-Tokyo & S49 Nagoya-Kyoto*
Australia