November 13, 2019
Anquetil and Poulidor racing the 1964 Tour de France
Poulidor had been in the hospital since the beginning of October. “He left us this morning,” his wife Gisele told AFP from their home in western France.
Raymond & Giselle Poulidor in Le Village at the 2005 Tour de France
Poulidor “PouPou” as he was known to his fans, continued to avidly follow the Tour de France. He could be seen every morning in Le Village of the Tour de France, reading the newspapers and greeting well-wishers.
He was never able to win the Tour de France, but did come in second three times as well as third five times over his 25-year career. He was still considered one of the great cyclists. He had 189 wins in his long career which included the Vuelta, Dauphine-Libere and Paris Nice, besides the Tour.
Although Eddy Merckx was a big rival at races, they were friends off the bike. Mercks was quoted as saying: “a great friend has left us. I am very sad. During my career we were rivals but afterwards we often spent time together. We holidayed together. It’s a big loss.”
Mathieu van der Poel who is a current top level cyclist is his grandson.
