REPORTAGE
Even become a legend of his sport, he remained the child of the country. Born in Masbaraud-Mérignat, in the Creuse, Raymond Poulidor died on Wednesday at the age of 83, in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, the city of his childhood, located about thirty kilometers in Haute-Vienne. In the municipality of 4,800 inhabitants, where an avenue and a stadium already bear the name of the champion, the inhabitants remember its simplicity.
"His diary was L'Équipe, " recalls Marie-Jeanne Meilhac, who runs the press house where Raymond Poulidor came every morning, wand under his arm. "He was very approachable, very nice," she told Europe 1, describing "her smile when he walked in the door". "There were always friends who joined him and with whom he spoke sports results," she says, before confiding: "It will make a vacuum."
"He really knew what the job was"
In the town, some of the champion's friends had known him for more than 60 years, like Jean-Claude Micaud. "He really knew what the job was," he told Europe 1, recalling that Raymond Poulidor had farmer parents and brothers working on the farm.
"I was always with him," says Jean-Claude, remembering the 47 days spent in hospital by his friend before his death, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. "I told him about the main sporting events, and the first cyclo-cross of his grandson, which he was crazy".
The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, one of the new stars of the world cycling, shared a touching photo of him with his grandfather on Thursday, with a text "Always so proud", accompanied by an emoji of Broken Heart.