"Les Potes" Sweat (new version)

THE BUDDIES

Sometimes, cycling is said to be an individual sport but the truth of the matter is different

Of course, many training sessions are performed alone. But cycling is also a story about men and women, about friendships. Every team session gives the opportunity for endless discussions. Cycling is often a story about encounters. There is no way a teammate will be left alone even if it means waiting for him at the top of the hill.

Of course, world class competition makes it harder to build friendships between rivals. It takes sometimes many years of rivalry before one realizes that something important was missed. Jacques Anquetil, five times Tour de France winner in the 60’s, said about his rivalry with Raymond Poulidor: “Life is tough, Raymond and myself lost 15 years of friendship”. But never too late, those two became buddies. More than half a century later, it has become hard to imagine the intensity of the rivalry between “Poupou” and “Maître Jacques”, a rivalry that divided a whole country.