Raymond Poulidor vs Jacques Anquetil: “Pou Pou and Maitre Jacques Battle of the Puy de Dome” Tour de France 1964

Jacques Anquetil, the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times (1957, 1961-1964) and Raymond “Pou Pou” Poulidor, nicknamed "The Eternal Second" for never winning the Tour and achieving three second-place finishes and a record eight podiums.

Through his racing career Maitre Jacques struggled to gain the affections of the French cycling fans while “Pou Pou’s” personality usually won the hearts of the French public. Their TdF duels are legendary, and their racing styles helped form an iconic Tour rivalry!

Pellos: Anquetil and Poulidor battled against the clock in the 1963 Tour, the other riders were trying to bring them both down.

Their intense rivalry reached huge heights on the Puy de Dôme in 1964. Poulidor, who trailed in the GC by only 56”, and Anquetil matched each other ‘move for move’ and dueled steadily up the brutal climb.

The Climb of the Puy de Dom

The weather was brutally hot, the crowd was large and very vocal, and the two Frenchmen were extended to the maximum. A stoic MaitreJacques hid his pain well, but Poulidor's pace cracked Anquetil in the final 1.5 km of the climb. One bike-length opened… then two… then three and Poulidor hammered toward the finish. Across the line “Pou Pou” was third on the stage and the clock was ticking. A fading Anquetil struggled to the finish line 42 seconds behind Poulidor.

Anquetil had saved his race lead by a scant 14 seconds. All eyes turned to the final ITT into Paris.
Stage 22 had two sections. In the morning section, the race was 119 km from Orleans to Versailles and in the afternoon section the race was the much anticipated 27 km ITT from Versailles to Paris. The atmosphere was electric throughout ALL of France. Not only was France celebrating Bastille Day, July 14th, but it was the finish of a classic TdF battle. Huge numbers of Anquetil fans met with equal numbers of Poulidor fans along the race route. The Parc des Princes Velodrome in Paris, the official finish line, was filled to capacity!

At the intermediate time check Poulidor had forged a 5 second advantage. Anquetil, a time trial specialist, was losing time. Poulidor hit the finish line with the leading time of 37'31” with Anquetil the only rider still on the racecourse. With the clock ticking, “Pou Pou” still had hope of overall victory. When MaitreJacques entered the Parc des Princes Velodrome the crowd roared as he crossed the finish line in 37'10”. Still the master of the time trial, Anquetil had won the stage and gained his record setting 5th Tour de France victory by a mere 55 seconds.

Two years after the epic Puy de Dôme the rivalry endured. Poulidor beat Anquetil in a time trial at Paris-Nice and claimed the race leader’s jersey. An angry and determined Anquetil staged a coup. He enlisted the help of other teams to help take the victory on the final stage.

Graham Jones fondly remembers the race: Poulidor answered at least thirty-eight attacks from Anquetil and his team that day. The 39th and final attack came on the last ascent of the race, the mild climb to Tourettes-sur-Loup. Finally, the hapless ‘Pou-Pou’ cracked and left Anquetil alone in his majestic glory.
The P-N bitterness remained later that season at the World Championships, where paralyzed by their rivalry, they refused to work together for the good of the French Team. There bickering allowing Germany’s Rudi Altig to take the victory.

Epic rides such as that day on the Puy de Dome or the final stage of the 1966 Paris-Nice eventually created many lucrative pay days for the two men due to their enormous crowd pulling power.

Years into retirement the bitterness eased and these two French heroes who had engaged in brutal rivalries became achieved a respectful friendship.