John Pierce – Part One, the Early Days

John Pierce is one of the world’s great sports photographers, he’s a friend of VeloVeritas and in our site’s best tradition, the man can RANT about the sport he’s been a part of for 50 years.

John, thank you for speaking to us – and am I right in saying you had a picture voted the ‘Best Cycling Photograph, Ever?’

“I think you refer to the Hinault sprint picture, Tour de France 1981.

“At the end of 1989 it was credited as being the ‘Action Sports Picture of the Decade’. The picture shows Hinault who was the current World Road Race Champion and the race leader wearing Yellow at the Tour de France.

“It was taken at a stage finish in Belgium (Zolder), due to unfriendly Belgian police at that time I chose to work in advance of the finish line, about 150m from the line. My intention was to shoot Kelly (Splendor) from the side, sprinting.

“I was staying at Herman Nys (Kelly’s long term host in Belgium) house, as a guest of Kelly. So, the intention was obvious and he had said he wanted to win for ‘Herman and Elise‘ – well, I waited and waited, looking for Kelly, but couldn’t identify him. Then I saw the Yellow jersey of Hinault, and also the Green of Maertens – so I panned with the large camera – one shot is all you get. However the Splendor rider was not Kelly but Guido Van Caster, with Planckaert (both Splendor).

“Hinault was trying to get past and all three had their eyes fixed ahead.

“It is, for sure, a great picture, but not one that has ever excited me; it disappointed me because Kelly did not sprint that day, and I really wanted a side shot of Kelly sprinting. (I got that the following year, when he was himself in Green).

“The Hinault picture has probably been published more times than any other photo in cycling, except perhaps the ‘Fausto Coppi – Izoard 1949’ which is a stand alone iconic portrait of a champion, legend even.”

You raced as a ‘Young Un’, how did you do?

“I was second in the West of England schoolboy champs, Phil Edwards won. I won 24 races, as a senior – I won a race in Chippenham, lapping all but five of the field that included pros Steve Taylor, Paul Baker, Graham Moore, and Phil Edwards. In that race I started fast, having ridden the 23 miles to the event. I was soon joined by Edwards, we lapped the field, but it was dangerous; the road surface was pan flat, on a prefab estate that was being demolished, so it was a bit dusty. I took a couple of primes and Edwards shouted; ‘let’s share them,’ so we were in for the long run. Two laps to go I was setting myself up for the sprint, going pretty fast.

“We trained together so I was pretty confident, then Edwards jumped me from behind but he fell part way around the next lap. I caught Steve Taylor who was fifth in the race as he rounded the last corner, Edwards was second.”

“I held a local time trial record over 10.7 miles with two climbs in 23 minutes dead.

“I never really rode the track, but had several nights at Maindy Stadium (Cardiff) on pro Derek Green’s Condor Track bike, I won a couple of events like the Devil and I took the flying lap record.

“On the road I could sprint and fast, on my day I could climb, but I suffered from asthma so was very unpredictable (for me).”

“I rode the Tour of Ireland five times and finished; I won a few primes there which earned me the nickname ‘prime-hunter’.

“It was there that I became friends with some of Ireland’s top riders, mainly Pat McQuaid as we are the same age and build on the bike, similar riding abilities.

“I remained with the Raleigh Dunlop Tour of Ireland for many years, competing five times over six years; I was later invited to bring my own team, representing the West of England for a similar number of years.

“Then I became the event photographer, working for TI Raleigh Ireland.”

You were behind the Manulife-Strada Team, tell us how that came to be.

“The team was a follow-on from organising teams for the Tour of Ireland. I would select riders suitable for the route of the tour from various clubs in the division. They would either ride for the West of England (sanctioned by division) or for my club, the Bristol Road Club, (sanctioned by the club). In that way over several years I became a manager and knew the individual riders very well.

“In 1972 David Trodd as a customer came into the camera shop, The London Camera Exchange in Bristol where I was manager. Sometime later he asked if I wanted to buy any life insurance and also if I smoked? I answered ‘no’ to both questions – however, I knew a lot of people who did not smoke, and I had an idea.

“Manulife were the only Life Insurance Company doing a non-smoking policy. It was cheaper and paid out better; so it didn’t take an ‘Einstein’ to put the team together with the new sponsor. We called it ‘Manulife Racing’ which had a ring to it like ‘Martini Racing’. We had super slick jersey design and I was very selective with members. The criteria was that they were all walking, talking adverts for a UK based Canadian owned global company.

“We were lucky, every single rider pulled their weight and I chose ‘horses for courses’ and we won pretty much everything. When one of our riders won he received a bonus and the club itself received the same bonus. This was in addition to the annual expenditure budget. However, when the club, and its team reached 75 wins a year the sponsor Manulife Insurance Bristol office, called me in with a problem. They wanted to continue sponsorship, but could not afford it – how could we continue and justify the extra money?

“At the same time Phil Griffiths of GS Strada Lutz was talking about the Lutz family clothing company stepping down from their sponsorship with GS Strada. Similarly, Phil’s team had also outgrown their sponsor, and were looking for sponsors elsewhere.

“I then proposed to our local Manulife that we could have an increased budget locally, if we were able to get the 23 UK Manulife Offices to sponsor VC Equipe-Manulife and the GS Strada-Manulife club. This was all done through myself with annual budgets for both clubs. Three years later GS Strada went for a direct meeting at Manulife, with a plan to increase their sponsorship and cut out VC Equipe from the equation.

“I arrived a week later at the due date, without knowing GS Strada had already proposed their budget. Manulife did not like it, and thus did not renew their sponsorship of either club. Without GS Strada the budget for VC Equipe was still too large for the Manulife Bristol branch.

“However VC Equipe had enough in the bank to continue for another two years and the club totalled almost 500 victories, 13 x Division Titles 1978 through to 1984, and three National Championships The best part is that all riders-members are still friends today, which is testament in itself.”

How did you get into race photography?

“When I was 13 years of age I won some money on the Premium Bonds, my mother had bought for me with birthday money. So with that I brought a bike to ride to school, it was a fancy racing style bike.

“School was the other side of Bristol, about 13 miles, and I would ride to school, that’s where I met Graham Moore and some others who were already ‘racing’.

“When I was 15-16 years-old I got quite ill on occasions with asthma and couldn’t race but with a recent family break up and move across Bristol my only friends were at my new school. As chance would have it I won again on the premium bonds – £25 worth, in today’s money that’s around £500.

“So I bought a camera and went to watch my school friends racing. The camera was an Empire Junior 120mm roll film camera with variable shutter speeds, bought from Woolworths. Mother chose it, being from a wealthy family she was a keen photographer in the 30’s and 40’s so knew a thing or two about cameras, film size and shutter speeds. I went with my school pals to Chrystal Palace to watch Tom Simpson in 1964, so that would have been my first photography of a professional race.”

“My father was a big motorcycle speedway fan, when I was very young we used to go the Knowle Speedway. About 10 years later armed with a camera I would attend the motorcycle speedway races at Eastville (where we lived) and was able to shoot some great pictures from the inside of the apex of the corner. I remember one time the bikes came really close and the ‘knob’ at the end of the clutch lever caught me as they passed.

“I also shot ice speed skating, some international events at the Bristol Ice Rink again from the inside of the track, on the apex of the corners. That same year I took some cycling shots that still survive today; the lads loved them and paid me what it cost because they wanted more pictures.

“The shots were unusual because they were taken from the side, most photographers shot from the front, but having been a rider, albeit as a schoolboy I knew it was important to ‘look in the reflection’ as you passed a shop window – that’s how and why I made pictures like the one of motor bike and Formula One legend Mike Hailwood during the Isle of Man 1967 he won three TT events there, including the 500cc. It was displayed in the Bromheads Camera Shop (Bristol) where I worked. I loved that picture.”