Andy Bishop, American Cycling Pioneer Who Raced Four Tours de France, Dies at 61

Andy Bishop, a pioneering American road and mountain bike racer who competed in four Tours de France before becoming a respected teacher and coach, died Tuesday following a battle with cancer. He was 61.

Born in Tucson, Arizona on May 26, 1965, Bishop emerged during the first major wave of American riders to establish themselves in European professional road cycling in the 1980s.

A trailblazer in both road and mountain biking, Bishop competed at the elite pro level for more than a decade.

He debuted in the 1988 Tour de France with PDM, and later raced with 7-Eleven, Motorola, Coors Light, and Nutra Fig-Colorado Cyclist, among others.

He competed in four editions of the Tour de France and one Giro d’Italia, racing for several top pro road teams during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Bishop also started eight monuments, including three editions of Paris-Roubaix, and finished second in the Belgian classic Druivenkoers-Overijse to Viatcheslav Ekimov in a three-up sprint.

Bishop was an anti-doping advocate and maintained that he raced clean during an era heavily tainted by performance-enhancing drugs. He told Cyclingnews he believed he was the only rider on PDM’s 1988 Tour de France squad who did not dope.

Cycling pioneer and educator

One of his career highlights came in 1995, when he won the overall at the Herald Sun Tour in Australia.

Bishop transitioned to mountain biking in the mid-1990s, just as the discipline was booming.

He raced the off-road circuit from 1996 to 2000 with the Gary Fisher trade team, where his teammates included 1996 Olympic gold medalist Paola Pezzo and future 2012 Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal.

One of his notable off-road results was 24th at the 1997 elite men’s mountain bike world championships in Château-d’Œx, Switzerland.

He maintained a lifelong connection to cycling after retiring, and he coached two-time Olympic cyclist Lea Davison and many others.

Bishop settled in Vermont and became a photographer and educator, teaching mathematics at Harwood Union High School and later at Hanover High School in New Hampshire.

He died June 2 at his home in New Hampshire following a battle with stomach cancer. Bishop is survived by his wife and two children.