Tony Bell

Who is Tony Bell?

Tony Bell is a freelance writer and journalist, known for his What's he on column in Cycling Weekly, where he was a columnist between 1994 and 2006. His popularity gained as a CW columnist led to engagements as an after-dinner speaker at cycling events.

Bell is also a serious reporter with a degree in politics who has reported on race riots, gangland contracts, drugs wars and environmental and social issues in his native Merseyside for The Independent and The Observer. Following a road accident in which several members of Rhyl cycling club were killed, Bell criticized the attitudes of those such as Jeremy Clarkson, whose column in The Sun he considered anti-cyclist, and what he saw as the cynical attitude of motorists. He called for a single organisation to represent cyclists in the UK to avoid such tragedies recurring.

Bell was also professional cyclist. He once held the mountains and points jerseys in the prestigious Mi-Août Bretonne. He is the brother of former National Amateur and Professional Road Race Champion Mark Bell, who died in 2009.

Bell lives in Chester and supplements his income as a bus driver.