My father was a huge cycling fan. At our home in Paris, it was on the television, on the radio, and in the many publications we had scattered around the house. One of my first memories, though, wasn’t of the Tour de France but the Ardennes Classics and, in particular, Luc Varenne, a legend of Belgian radio.
As a family, we would listen to the finales of races and every time I heard Varenne’s voice I would run towards the radio. I would get as close as I could. It wasn’t so much his words but his voice, his tone, his enthusiasm, his passion. It drew me in like a spell. It was everything.
He would have this incredible way of exaggerating the climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He made the race sound like a fairytale to a young boy, the climbs like giants that these heroes on bikes had to conquer.
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When I think back to childhood memories of cycling, some things are more vivid than others. For some reason, I can remember Jan Janssen’s face when he reached the Parc des Princes - the old Parc des Princes. I didn’t follow the Tour back then but the image of him stood out: a guy in sunglasses, lifted up on shoulders, waving to the crowds and surrounded by cameras and journalists. We watched live on TV - those grainy black and white images - and I remember asking, ‘Who is this guy?’
But it was only later that I found out that he was the first Dutch winner of the Tour. It wasn’t until the next year, and the summer of 1969, that I properly followed the Tour for the first time. The winner, of course, was Eddy Merckx, who was honoured at the Grand Départ. I fell deeply in love with cycling - with Merckx, Luis Ocaña, Bernard Thévenet, Bernard Hinault, Raymond Poulidor, always Raymond Poulidor .
It’s thanks to the Tour de France that I wanted to be a journalist. It was my dream. I worked hard and I commentated on the race, twice on radio and once on TV. Then in April 2001, at the GP Demane, Jean-Marie Leblanc came to me. At the time, I was working for France Télévisions and it was my first year as a commentator. Jean-Marie came to me in the press room and asked to speak to me. He took me to one side and said: “I would have liked you to take over from me, to be the director of the Tour.” Before I could even respond, he added: “But Christian, it won’t be you because we have someone who is perfect.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
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