Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Racing => Topic started by: vorsprung on 13 November, 2019, 09:36:29 am
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https://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Article/Raymond-poulidor-c-etait-la-poupoularite/1079692
Aged 83
Most podiums in the TdF but never won it
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I remember reading that on the rare occasions he did win a big race, he was surprised. It never occurred to him he should actually win, he was content to ride a good race.
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A good bloke who’ll be much 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.
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I wasn't into cycling then, but I recall during my A level French class our teacher bringing in a selection of French newspapers for us to read and discuss. I've for gotten which paper it was, but one had the front page divided into two with a double banner headline.
POMPIDOU - POULIDOR.
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:'(
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I wasn't into cycling then, but I recall during my A level French class our teacher bringing in a selection of French newspapers for us to read and discuss. I've for gotten which paper it was, but one had the front page divided into two with a double banner headline.
POMPIDOU - POULIDOR.
According to The Penguin Book Of The Bicycle the front-page photo of that edition was of Poulidor.
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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.
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What's really amazing for me is that Poulidor was famous as The man who never won the Tour de France. Obviously a lot of people, including myself, never won the TdF.
A
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Pou-Pou does the Tourmalet in 1967 while being interviewed (in French, natch):
https://www.ina.fr/video/CAF88029609/l-ascension-du-tourmalet-video.html
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https://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Article/Raymond-poulidor-c-etait-la-poupoularite/1079692
Aged 83
Most podiums in the TdF but never won it
What's really amazing for me is that Poulidor was famous as The man who never won the Tour de France. Obviously a lot of people, including myself, never won the TdF.
A
The Netherlands of cycling.
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What's really amazing for me is that Poulidor was famous as The man who never won the Tour de France. Obviously a lot of people, including myself, never won the TdF.
A
He was the most famous in recent years but he wasn't the only frenchman in this category. Others that I can think of are René Vietto and Eugene Christophe (him of the broken fork on the Tourmalet monument). I think french culture seems to adore a valiant loser, far more than an unexpected or unpredicted winner. On the other hand Roger Walkoviak deeply regretted winning the Tour and said that it ruined his life. It took decades for him to be restored to his proper place in french cycling culture