Merci Poupou

A tribute to the French cycling legend Raymond Poulidor, Mathieu van der Poel's grandfather.

Between 1962 and 1976, Poulidor completed the world's biggest cycling race, the Tour de France, 14 times. This was also the case on his last arrival on the Champs Elysees in July 1976 (3rd place overall). In his inimitable career, "Poupou" won the Tour of Spain in 1964. He took seven stage wins in the Tour and won classics such as Milan San Remo or the Flèche Wallone and became French champion. Eight times he finished the “Grande Boucle” on the podium in Paris without having worn the yellow jersey for a single day.

In 2021, his grandson Mathieu van der Poel together with his team Alpecin-Deceuninck (back then known as Alpecin-Fenix) competed in the Tour de France for the first time, showing up in "Poupou" colours to pay tribute to his grandfather and let him ride on in the heart of the Peloton and his fans.

In the 2023 Tour de France, stage 9 starts in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, where Poulidor and his family lived. The stage will be taking the peloton to the iconic Puy de Dôme where - back in 1964 - Poulidor and Jacques Anquetil put down a legendary side-by-side battle, with the overall Tour de France victory as stake.

Because of this unique “Merci Poupou” stage in this year’s Tour de France, Mathieu van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck will be honoring Poulidor with a dedicated race shirt (stage 9) and a new design version of the ‘Merci Poupou jersey’ (rest day).

These jerseys – exclusively worn by the 8 Alpecin-Deceuninck riders – will be auctioned for charity. Also, the replicas of the new design version of the ‘Merci Poupou jersey’ will be available for purchase. Just as in 2021, profits will go to charity.