Description

Tommy Prim

Tommy Prim (born 29 July 1955) is a retired Swedish professional cyclist who rode for the Italian Bianchi-Piaggio team between 1980 and 1986. In 1983, he became the first Scandinavian rider to win a classic race, taking victory in Paris–Brussels. His other career highlights include winning Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour de Romandie, as well as finishing runner-up twice in the Giro d’Italia in 1981 and 1982.

Biography

Prim rode for the local CK Wano cycling club in Varberg as a youngster and became Swedish Junior champion in 1972. As an amateur, he was Swedish champion in 1976 and 1979, as well as the Scandinavian amateur champion in 1975 and 1976. He won the under-22 classification of the Tour of Britain in 1976, marking his first trip abroad with the Swedish national team. He competed in the team time trial event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

In 1978 and 1979, Prim turned in top-class performances in the highly-rated Italian stage race Settimana Bergamasca, which has been won by some of the world’s top riders before they turned professional. Prim’s feats in the Bergamasca race caught the eye of top professional teams. At the end of 1979, Prim turned professional with the Italian Bianchi-Piaggio squad, a decision made easier by the presence of fellow Scandinavians Knut Knudsen and Alf Segersäll in that team. His team manager would be master tactician Giancarlo Ferretti.

Prim’s made an immediate impact as a professional in his debut season of 1980, he finished seventh in the early season Tour of Sardinia and was part of the Bianchi team that won the team time trial stage at Paris–Nice, this good form ensured him a ride in the Giro d’Italia where he took a stage into Teramo as well as finishing fourth overall and taking the young riders jersey. He was also disqualified after winning the stage into Sorrento when he rode Italian sprinter Giovanni Mantovani into the barriers. Later that season, he won the Italian one-day race, the Coppa Agostoni.

Prim went to the 1981 Giro d’Italia in top form after winning the Tour de Romandie just before the Italian race, he ended up taking the runners up spot behind Giovanni Battaglin, many observers felt that Prim could have won the 1981 Giro if his Bianchi squad had backed him solely instead of having three team leaders (Italians Silvano Contini and Giambattista Baronchelli were the others). In 1982, Prim finished runner-up once again in the Giro, beaten by the tactically astute Bernard Hinault. In 1983, he entered the Giro as sole team leader for Bianchi, and everything started well when he took the leader’s pink jersey after the first stage team time trial. However, his form in the mountains was uncharacteristically poor, and he eventually finished a disappointing 15th overall. In September 1983 he won the Paris–Brussels, which at that time was still regarded as a “Classic” race, he went clear with an early break which stayed away for 280 kilometers, he dropped his breakaway companions on the Alsemberg climb just before the finish and remained clear until the finish to become the first Scandinavian rider to win a classic race.

1984 promised great things when Prim won the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race in Italy, but his season was ruined when he crashed a few days before the Giro. In 1985, the team was renamed Sammontana-Bianchi, with a new manager, Wladimiro Bortolozzi. Moreno Argentin was brought in to be the joint team leader alongside Tommy. Prim finished that year’s Giro in fourth place behind three of the cycling world’s superstars, Bernard Hinault, Francesco Moser, and Greg LeMond. 1986 saw Prim ride a disappointing Giro d’Italia, where he finished 21st overall. This prompted his team to say they would not ride the Tour of Sweden, which they had done every year since its reintroduction in 1982. Tommy’s reaction to this was to announce his retirement from cycling midway through the 1986 season at the young age of 31. He was feeling tired and felt that he could no longer give it his all.

After he retired from cycling, Tommy opened a bike shop in his native Sweden. He then moved to other employment working for a mail-order firm, a sawmill, and then a salmon smokery. In 2000, Tommy was offered the chance to become team manager at the small UCI-registered Team Crescent, a Swedish professional squad that aimed to promote Swedish under-23 riders. He has had some success in bringing through talented riders as the team evolved from Team Crescent to Bianchi Scandinavia to Bianchi Nordic. The team folded at the end of the 2004 season.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, read the full article by clicking HERE

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