The angels say they saw him cry.
His grandson, Mathieu van der Poel, the one he called “his phenomenon” still wears this jersey that the rascal of fate had always refused him.
Mathieu had however warned "I am realistic: I will lose this yellow jersey at the end of the time trial".
It was a joke like the one that Poupou and Mathieu, who adored each other, exchanged during family meals: “No, no, the grandson defends himself on arrival in Laval, when I said that I thought to lose the jersey, I wasn't lying.
I really meant it.
"
However, it has been going on for three days and it is going to last a little longer.
No doubt until Saturday when the Alps will take shape.
So yes, Raymond Poulidor the grandpa would be proud, really very proud.
The youngest of his daughter Corinne is still in yellow.
This color which marked his life but which he has never touched.
"It's hard that he's not here with us," Mathieu has been repeating since Sunday.
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He knows he will stumble on the mountain
For eight small seconds, a gap that recalls the memories of another time trial 32 years ago, Mathieu van der Poel is still in yellow, a color that gives wings: “It's true, says the winner of the Tour of Flanders 2020, wearing this jersey on the roads of the Tour, in France with all this public that pushes me is something unique, incredible, phenomenal. This jersey gives strength, a resource that we don't think we have in us. "
The magic of the Tour, the love of yellow, comes from afar. From his grandfather. And also from his father Adrie, himself wearing the jersey for a day on the 1984 Tour between Béthune and Cergy-Pontoise: “Mathieu has never had an obsessive relationship with the yellow jersey, recalls Adrie van der Poel. He never said to himself, "
I want to have him to avenge my grandpa."
He first came to the Tour to win a stage. He also, in passing, conquered the French public who love his panache and his strength. After all, blue-white-red blood also runs through his veins even though his tricolor is not in the same direction as ours.
Of course on Saturday evening, at the end of the first mountain stage, Mathieu van der Poel will not be on the podium to put on a last jersey. He knows his new love will leave him soon: "It's realistic to think I'll keep him for two more days," he admits. Then it will go on the shoulders of a climber. »Which he is not. Not yet: when he will be, this yellow jersey, he will perhaps bring it back to Paris. Grandpa hasn't finished crying.