With his book Me, Lucho, the important thing is to stay alive at Solar editions, Luc Leblanc confides frankly on a cycling career that should never have seen the light of day, due to a serious accident. But beyond the borders of reality, the double stage winner on the Tour de France and wearer of the yellow jersey delivers a message of resilience and looks back on the highlights of his career.
The Point: Your life changed one evening in 1978, when a car hit you and your little brother and he lost his life. And behind, a legacy that has pursued you throughout your career…
Luc Leblanc: Yes, I lost my brother Gilles and my left leg was broken. This resulted in stunted growth. Result: there is an eight centimeter gap between my left leg and my right leg: I still wonder how I managed a twelve-year career with that. Everyone said I was a mourner, but they didn’t get the gist of it. Sometimes I was sideways on the bike, so they tried to put a block behind my heel or orthopedic shoes… My greatest feats, I accomplished them when I had no pain in my leg.
Despite the pain, you have surpassed yourself. Looking back, where did you get your mental strength from?
When you have one knee on the ground, you have to get up. The results are important of course, but they will only happen with kindness. It is necessary that the entourage and the framing are there. On my scale, I haven’t always had the right people around me. I admit that it was not happy all the time. I was not understood, I was the victim of controversies that had no reason to be.
You come from the same region as an emblematic champion of French cycling, namely Raymond Poulidor. What was your relationship with him?
Just before I turned pro in 1986, my dad and I asked the great Raymond for a date. It was impressive, because I had never seen it before. We wanted advice because we were a little lost. He told me that he didn’t know me well enough, but that I had to go break some wood, to revitalize my body. The next day, I was with my axe, and it followed me for four winters. Raymond was a kind of spiritual father, when I won at Hautacam, Les Arcs, or when I wore the yellow jersey, he was there every time to congratulate me.
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You are also a cook recognized for your elaborate dishes typical of French gastronomy. Is cooking an even tougher world than cycling?
I prepared my CAP de cuisine for three years, I came home early in the morning to prepare my lunch service. At 2 p.m., my father or my mother came to pick me up and behind me I got on my bike to run as much as I could before resuming in the evening. Cooking has helped me, it’s undeniable, it’s one of the most rigorous and demanding professions there is. Chefs back then were tough. It was complicated to be able to link all that, but I managed to free myself for the Sunday races. It forged an extra character in me, the accident allowed me to contain the suffering and to go beyond, when I went beyond the red zone, I liked it, that’s what kept me going.
One of your first bosses in cycling was Bernard Tapie. How do you remember him?
In Lugny at the French Championships in 1987, I raise my arm even if I finish second. Bernard Tapie, on arrival, told me that he wanted to see me… but I never saw him again (He laughs)! Well, if we had seen each other, I think he would have yelled at me because you don’t celebrate a second place, but hey, I was 20 and at that age, we savor it. However, I thank him a thousand times. With him, wages increased. In cycling, we paid with the slingshot before him, and he decided to modernize everything.
The pinnacle of your career remains this title of world champion in 1994 in Sicily. What do you remember, 29 years later, of this coronation?
What happiness! Even today, I find it hard to realize: I still watch the race on YouTube from time to time. It will mark me until the end of my days. I knew four days before that I was going to be world champion: it only happens once in a lifetime this kind of feeling. Before starting, I was attached to the barrier at the start while the announcer announced the competitors and, in my head, I told myself that they had no chance.
You are one of the rare runners to have accumulated the yellow jersey, the title of French champion and the world crown…
It’s simple, we are only five in this case! With in particular Bernard Hinault and Louison Bobet. There was less recognition in my case, even though I never sought it. I have represented French cycling and my country everywhere, I am very proud to have won this medal in Agrigento, but of course, when you stop, you are nothing in the eyes of some people.
Do you recognize yourself in this modern cycling where headsets and power meters dictate their law?
It’s obvious that racing has changed: now it’s down to the millimetre. It feels like today’s runners were born with a power meter. I discuss with some of them, they no longer know themselves, in terms of efforts and their bodies. That’s what’s been missing lately. I hope that the UCI will look into this one day, even if we have a generation of runners like Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Alaphilippe, who manage to stand out and run almost in a normal way, on instinct.
For you, the best period of cycling remains the years 1960-1970. You say in your book that you were born thirty years too late…
When I stopped my career, shortly after the World Championship in Verona in 1999, the organization invited all the former winners. There was Bernard Hinault who won his first Tour de France in 1978, Eddy Merckx, Joop Zoetemelk but also Rik van Steenbergen, the oldest. I melted into the direct group, and they took me under their wing, calling me Lucho here, Lucho there. I had a magical moment and I regret being born too late to run with them, they have become real friends.
Your will for the future is to create your own team. What would a Leblanc formation look like in the peloton?
If I manage to have this team, the first thing I put in place, and this is the most important for me, is the exchange with the small clubs, the kids, the parents and the coaches. We must never forget where we come from, the leaders and the volunteers devoted themselves body and soul to organize our races, and we were able to turn pro thanks to that. We must give them the same. I don’t necessarily see myself in the car giving orders at all costs, but I want to have this role of training and detection for young people.
Me, Lucho, the important thing is to stay alive, Luc Leblanc, Solar editions
