Raymond Poulidor, known as the "eternal second" for the podium record he has in the Tour de France (eight), has died at 83, after several months of hospitalization. This season there has been much talk about Poulidor for his kinship (grandfather) with Mathew van der Poel . But "Pou Pou", in that French fondness for onomatopoeia, is much more: someone unforgettable in world cycling. A name not defined precisely by that of his grandson.
For a superficial audience and for a simplistic or hurried headline journalist, Poulidor is "the eternal second." That is, a "second", definition tending towards compassionate disdain. But no. Not that much. Born in 1936, in 17 seasons as a professional, his coincidence in time with Jacques Anquetil (1934) and Eddy Merckx (1945), reduced him to a secondary position that, in other circumstances, would have been principal.
Its greater chronological proximity with Anquetil and its shared nationality made that rivalry one of the most intense in the history of cycling. Few scenes as representative of that fight for the annals of cycling as the rise of both, side by side, shoulder against shoulder, sweat on sweat, of the Puy-de-Dôme in the Tour of 1964, behind Julio Jiménez and Bahamontes , which axed their particular duel. Anquetil, loser then, although last winner, came out, in general, triumphant of that rivalry. But his cold and scientific style calmed less in the amateur than the stubborn, impetuous and honest of Poulidor, with his trace of noble peasant, his wide face and his compact jaw, a splendid rodent, on the other hand. A superb time trialist and a magnificent climber. Anquetil won the admiration of the French. Poulidor, your heart.
Poulidor, who participated in 14 Tours and did not wear the yellow jersey (another reason, in his undeserved rarity, to love him even more), was second that year, after, it was said, Anquetil. The same as in 1965 (after Gimondi) and 1974 (after Merckx). And third in 1962, 1966, 1969, 1972 and 1976, in years of victories of Anquetil, Lucien Aimar , Merckx (two) and Lucien Van Impe .
Poulidor, it is true, was second or third those and other times and in such great events, with, also, a silver and three bronzes in the World Cups, which is simple and easy to attribute that "second hand" vitola. But it was first in many others. He retired with 189 victories of diverse consideration. Among them the Tour of Spain of 1964 , the Milan-San Remo of 1961, the Walloon Arrow (1963), the Dauphiné Libéré (1966-1969), the Paris-Nice (1972-1973), the Midi Libre (1973). .. His "grimpeur" skills led him in Spain to win three times in the Climb to Montjuïc, and once in the Ascent to Arrate. He also took the Catalan Setmana of 1971.
In 1987, a few days before he died, at age 53, of an already incurable stomach cancer detected months earlier, Anquetil phoned Poulidor. "This time I'll get ahead of you too," he said with a bitter sense of humor. Now the same is true among iron heroes but vulnerable. The eternal second ... The eternal first ... Eternal both.
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