Elliot Hubbard is black.

To all but the more narrow-minded members of society it is a meaningless observation. To devotees of European professional cycling, it is big news.

Like the Tiger Woods explosion in American golfing circles, the anticipated arrival of Hubbard on the professional cycling tour has the media drawing comparisons to Marshall (Major) Taylor, the black cycling legend of the early 1900s.

Hubbard is not only Bermuda's first professional cyclist, he is being dubbed the first black road cyclist to race professionally in the sport's toughest proving ground.

That distinction comes courtesy of the December issue of Velo News, largely referred to as the bible of cycling, which devotes a page to Hubbard as part of its eight-page reflection on Taylor.

The magazine, through Hubbard's former team-mate in the US, Nils Dennis, goes one further, observing that Hubbard is perhaps the finest black cyclist in the world.

"Until he'd said that, I hadn't thought of it,'' Hubbard is quoted as saying.

"There aren't that many in this sport ... Hopefully I'll be able to take it further and open up some doors for riders from other islands or minorities.'' Hubbard, 23, is currently travelling through Europe, awaiting the start of the road racing season.

Greg Hopkins, Hubbard's close friend and Island cycling guru, said yesterday that skin colour was "not even an issue'' for Hubbard.

"It's just that there aren't that many black cyclists in the world, for whatever reason,'' he said.

But the magazine relays an anecdote of Hubbard's, dating back to when he was 15 and going to a development camp in Wisconsin.

"I said to the coach, Tom Schuler, `I'm going to be the first black rider to ride the Tour'.'' Race aside, the article charts Hubbard's rise, from his first race at age of 14 to his discovery at age 17 by a French coach, Michel Ducaf, vacationing on the Island, to the signing recently of a contract with AKI Gipiemme of Monaco.

In cycling's hey day at the turn of the century, Taylor didn't break the colour barrier, he demolished it. He was a US sprint champion at the age of 21 and by 22 had defeated the champion of every European cycling nation, later setting world records in the mile -- once being clocked at over 45 miles per hour -- before retiring at the age of 32.

Hopkins sees Hubbard as a ground breaker in his own right. "He has done so much cycling in Bermuda,'' he said. "The sport has grown incredibly and a lot of it is due to Elliot.'' ELLIOT HUBBARD -- hailed as the `finest black cyclist in the world'.