Keith Lambert pauses at the piano in his living room and tickles a note-perfect étude from its keys. For the genial Yorkshireman this instrument is where a lifetime in cycling, from pro rider to manager to mentor, all began.
Having found an old bike at a tip, the young Lambert continued to press his parents for a proper bike. They eventually capitulated — on the condition he passed his piano exams, which he duly did.
“That was it really, I was smitten,” says our 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award winner. “Unfortunately the piano took a bit of a backseat after that, but yeah, that’s really how it started.”
In little more than 10 years Lambert had turned professional, winning dozens of races as a rider before taking up a management career and shepherding his charges to many more.
He is also a trustee and founder member of the Rayner Foundation, helping young riders as they forge a career on the continent.
Throughout his career Lambert rode some of the world’s biggest races — the World Championship on eight occasions, including at Goodwood in 1982; and in 1977 he took on, and finished Paris-Roubaix, still while working the day job. It may have been one of the biggest races of his career, but, says Lambert: “All I remember thinking at the end of it is I need to be quick here to get to the boat, because I’ve got to get to work tomorrow morning!”
In 1988, having taken on a ‘player-manager’ role the previous season, Lambert finally moved into Act II of his career, which turned out to be as successful, and even more enduring than the first: management.
“I always felt like it was something I’d like to do, managing a team. Because being a team captain for a few years, the way you talk to riders, I felt like I could get the best out of them.”
Lambert went on to manage one of the most iconic teams of the Nineties, Banana-Falcon, where he looked after Jonny Clay, Dave Rayner and Shane Sutton among others.
It was in Lambert’s final year at Banana that tragedy struck, when Rayner, then riding for Lex-Townsend, died after being assaulted by a night club bouncer. Desperate to find some meaning in his senseless death, Rayner’s friends — Lambert included — formed the Dave Rayner Fund with the specific intention of helping young riders in their road careers.
“The success we’re enjoying now [on the road], some of that has come through help from the Dave Rayner Fund,” Lambert points out. “And his name is not forgotten, for what he did himself. He was a good rider.”
Lambert may now be retired, but that word would probably be better off in inverted commas. He is still in touch with BC, lending his advice and experience; still a trustee at the Rayner Foundation, helping out the young stars of tomorrow — and he certainly still rides his bike.
We look out of his kitchen window over a perfect West Yorkshire panorama. In the field below, Lambert’s donkeys, Rosie and Daisy (he got them off Sean Kelly — true story), graze quietly. Between looking after them, the cycling stuff, and indulging in a spot of bird-watching, there’s plenty to do.
And that piano isn’t going to play itself.
This content was originally published here.
