HONDELATTE RACONTE
Five Tours of France, two Tours of Italy, a Tour of Spain, Jacques Anquetil is one of the greatest French cyclists. But Tuesday, Christophe Hondelatte does not tell you the sporting career of this legend, but his private life, revealed in a book - For the love of Jacques - by his daughter Sophie Anquetil (fruit of the union between Jacques Anquetil and his beautiful - daughter), in 2004.
>> From 14h to 15h, Hondelatte tells Europe 1. Find the replay of the program of Christophe Hondelatte here
A child of his blood
In 1958, Jacques Anquetil married Janine Boeda, called "Nanou". For several years, the cyclist has a relationship with her, it is the wife of his personal physician. Eleven years later, when Jacques Anquetil retired in 1969, his desire to have a child was stronger than ever. Nanou already has a daughter - Annie - and a son - Alain - from her previous marriage, but she had her tubes tied after both pregnancies and can not have any more children.
Nanou's idea
The young pensioner is tapped by this desire for a child. One day, he has an idea: he wants to find a surrogate mother. Nanou refuses this idea and, instead, will have another, much more surprising. If Jacques wants a child, then Nanou wants him to do it with his daughter, Annie, 18 years old. Jacques Anquetil refuses, but the idea will eventually make its way.
For her part, Annie says that she has not been forced to do anything, that she is not a victim. "When his mother makes this proposal, Annie wants to please them, to participate in this mission that is asked," said Sophie Anquetil. Finally, one evening, Jacques Anquetil is in bed. "I do not know what is the dimension of manipulation and love in this story," says Sophie Anquetil, "but I think there is a mix of both."
"A true love story"
When the baby arrives, the entire Anquetil tribe agrees that Sophie is only the daughter of Jacques and Nanou for the outside world. But the retired cyclist is not going to spend a night in Annie's bed. He will spend twelve years there. The trio will indeed live a love story with three. Sophie, the baby, understands quickly that she has two moms. She goes from arm to arm, becoming the center of attention. "It's not the story of a man who had mother and daughter, but really a love story," says Sophie Anquetil.
The love trio will hold for twelve years, until the day when Alain (the son of Nanou) settles in the family estate with his wife Dominique and their son Steve. After two years, this little world explodes. Annie is jealous of Dominique and thinks that she married her brother only to recover Jacques. Dominique, Alain and their child leave the estate. Soon followed by Annie, who feels trapped in the situation. "I think it was she who suffered the most, her youth and her life as a woman were, in a way, stolen by this context," said Sophie Anquetil. From now on, Annie wants to be the only one, the only one, and she demands the departure of Nanou, her mother but also her rival. Jacques Anquetil procrastinates, so Annie leaves, in turn.
The tearing
The weeks pass. Jacques Anquetil is furious with the situation. Since Annie does not want to come back, then he too will leave. And that same evening, he finds himself in Dominique's bed, the wife of his wife's son. From this day, the cell Anquetil bursts definitively. The cyclist broke everything. The pieces will never pick up until his death in November 1987.
"I got a lot of feedback when I got out of the book, some people wanted me to attack a myth, there are people who were embarrassed by this story, while it does not distort its image, but on the contrary, it gives it another dimension ", concludes Sophie Anquetil.