johnnh said:
I was given it for Christmas. Read half of it and then gave up. A not very entertaining read about a not very nice person.
Most people didn't know about his private life in his lifetime.
Anyway, much of the French public didn't like him, but his fellow racers loved him.
François Hamon, who was a "little pro racer" told me a typical story: They both were in a race, the very popular Chateaulin criterium ( It usually drew 80 000 paying spectators). At one point they were sprinting for a 50 000 french francs "prime" and Anquetil was going to win it.
He then looked under his arm to see who was behind him and he let François Hamon pass him and win the 50000FF. That was about 1 month minimum wage in those days, ie something like 1500$ nowadays, i.e. peanuts for Anquetil but a lot for Hamon. Everybody was happy : the public who saw a local racer beat Anquetil in a sprint, Hamon and all the other "small pros".
Poulidor was too greedy to ever do such a thing and that cost him no doubt a number of wins, the pack preferred to see Anquetil win.