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Raymond Poulidor, eternal runner-up of Tour de France, dies at 83
Obituaries
Raymond Poulidor, eternal runner-up of Tour de France, dies at 83
Raymond Poulidor, right, rides uphill next to Jacques Anquetil during the 1964 Tour de France. (Staff/AFP/Getty Images)
By Samuel Petrequin
November 13, 2019 at 1:06 p.m. EST
Raymond Poulidor, the “eternal runner-up” whose repeated failure to win the Tour de France helped him conquer French hearts and become the country’s all-time favorite cyclist, died Nov. 13 in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, in central France. He was 83.
Town officials confirmed the death but did not provide a cause. He had been hospitalized last month after a bout of fatigue this summer during the Tour, where he worked every year as an ambassador for the yellow jersey’s sponsor.
Decades after his career ended, Mr. Poulidor was still adored in a nation where sports fans love to pull for “magnificent losers.” The fact he never wore the yellow jersey — and never quite got the better of his rivals Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx — became his trademark.
Outside of cycling’s circles, his status as a nearly man eclipsed the achievements of Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, the two French members of the elite club of five-time Tour winners.
Over his 17-year-career, Mr. Poulidor — nicknamed “Poupou” — secured a record eight podium finishes at the Tour de France, cycling’s showpiece event, but could never reach Paris in the famed yellow tunic worn by the race leader after each stage.
Ironically, considering he never got to wear it during his racing career, he wore a yellow shirt every day as an ambassador for the grueling race.
....
Poulidor arrives at the 20th stage of the Tour de France in 1976. (AFP/Getty Images)
....
In 1962, he made his Tour debut with a broken finger and put on a great show in the Alps to win a daunting stage featuring five climbs with a commanding three-minute lead.
Two years later, Mr. Poulidor started the 1964 Tour as favorite, having won the Vuelta earlier that year. After dropping Anquetil during a Pyrenean stage, he reached the top of the Port d’Envalira climb with a three-minute lead over his cycling nemesis. But Anquetil rode at breakneck speed in the descent to catch up with his rival, before Mr. Poulidor hit the tarmac in the fog and eventually lost two minutes.
At the 1968 Tour, he was involved in a serious crash after a motorbike knocked him over and fell on top of him.
“When I was hit by the motorbike, I was almost dead on the side of the road,” Mr. Poulidor told the Associated Press four years ago, recalling the incident.
Despite all the hard luck, he wasn’t bitter.
“I was unlucky, but the bike brought me more than it cost me,” he once said.
— Associated Press
Raymond Poulidor, eternal runner-up of Tour de France, dies at 83
Raymond Poulidor, right, rides uphill next to Jacques Anquetil during the 1964 Tour de France. (Staff/AFP/Getty Images)
By Samuel Petrequin
November 13, 2019 at 1:06 p.m. EST
Raymond Poulidor, the “eternal runner-up” whose repeated failure to win the Tour de France helped him conquer French hearts and become the country’s all-time favorite cyclist, died Nov. 13 in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, in central France. He was 83.
Town officials confirmed the death but did not provide a cause. He had been hospitalized last month after a bout of fatigue this summer during the Tour, where he worked every year as an ambassador for the yellow jersey’s sponsor.
Decades after his career ended, Mr. Poulidor was still adored in a nation where sports fans love to pull for “magnificent losers.” The fact he never wore the yellow jersey — and never quite got the better of his rivals Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx — became his trademark.
Outside of cycling’s circles, his status as a nearly man eclipsed the achievements of Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, the two French members of the elite club of five-time Tour winners.
Over his 17-year-career, Mr. Poulidor — nicknamed “Poupou” — secured a record eight podium finishes at the Tour de France, cycling’s showpiece event, but could never reach Paris in the famed yellow tunic worn by the race leader after each stage.
Ironically, considering he never got to wear it during his racing career, he wore a yellow shirt every day as an ambassador for the grueling race.
....
Poulidor arrives at the 20th stage of the Tour de France in 1976. (AFP/Getty Images)
....
In 1962, he made his Tour debut with a broken finger and put on a great show in the Alps to win a daunting stage featuring five climbs with a commanding three-minute lead.
Two years later, Mr. Poulidor started the 1964 Tour as favorite, having won the Vuelta earlier that year. After dropping Anquetil during a Pyrenean stage, he reached the top of the Port d’Envalira climb with a three-minute lead over his cycling nemesis. But Anquetil rode at breakneck speed in the descent to catch up with his rival, before Mr. Poulidor hit the tarmac in the fog and eventually lost two minutes.
At the 1968 Tour, he was involved in a serious crash after a motorbike knocked him over and fell on top of him.
“When I was hit by the motorbike, I was almost dead on the side of the road,” Mr. Poulidor told the Associated Press four years ago, recalling the incident.
Despite all the hard luck, he wasn’t bitter.
“I was unlucky, but the bike brought me more than it cost me,” he once said.
— Associated Press