A good bloke who’ll be missed. UAF will have to find another President d’Honneur.
HK and I shook his hand at the finish of an overnight UAF 400 from Montgeron to Limoge to celebrate his 75th birthday in May 2011. A timber statue in St Leonard de Noblet, a nice dinner, decent wine, several rivals and teammates from Pou-Pou’s pro years sharing stories with the admiring crowd and a bunch of locals in their finery mingling with dozens of sleep-deprived audaxers scoffing the finger food.
A little up the hill from his statue https://goo.gl/maps/8bnpcadC4w2M2sDW8 is Avenue Raymond Poulidor with a plaque on his childhood home.
I see there is a new Raymond Poulidor Velodrome in Limoges.
My first experience of his popular side was riding the balade organised alongside his cyclo-sportive on the occasion of his 60th birthday. He had a few of his pro mates along for the event.
He seemed to make himself available for a lot of cycling events outside the competition scene. One of my former blind stokers shook his hand at a townhall reception for a visually handicapped ride.
The velodrome was named after him by popular poll in the Populaire newspaper. He was a bit dubious of the priviledge, saying that he never did any track and knew nothing about it. He accepted all the same for his public. He already had a sporting complex in St Léonard named after him. The vélodrome isn't actually in Limoges (a big mistake in my view) but at Bonnac le Côte, about 15kms out (and on top of a hill). The original plan was for a cycling centre, which would have been more appropriate with Poulidor's name on it but the budget got shrunk!
We still have André Dufraisse alive and strong into his 90's. He lends his support to "Ride and run" events around St Pardoux.
