I was in the same team as Dave in 1971. We were both in the a.c.Sotteville which was based in Rouen-France.The manager or d.s,as they call them now was Mr Andre Boucher who trained jacque anquetil and jean jourden when they were younger. Mr Boucher was very famous in his day and was a very serious man. I went over there in 1971 and Dave was already making his mark. Winning regularly and wearing the "maillot des as" which was a regional yellow jersey for points accumulated over the season in certain big races. The week I arrived there he won "Paris-Rouen" which was a big classic in its day. Another englishman in the club was Peter Hill who was an ex-pro for Peugeot. He was a really nice bloke and we got on well. Dave seemed to keep his form all through the season. I dont know how because after a couple of months I was really stuffed. Some of the races would last 5 or 6 hours. He kept hold of the jersey till the end of the season and the french people really respected him. I stayed with a lovely french family and Dave lived in a caravan at the bottom of the garden. We went to see Anquetil at his chateau one day. He was trying to get Dave a contract for a french pro team but he did not have any luck. All he could offer Dave was a place in a Belgium team which at the time was like commiting suicide. It was so hard and so shitty in Belgium that nobody wanted to be a pro there. Although I think Dave would have done well no matter where he went - he was that good.
Mel McCoul