This Sunday September 29, 2024 was disputed La Ronde Picardea cyclosporte in the Somme. An opportunity to meet the official sponsor of the event, Henri Sannier. Former sports journalist for France Television and presenter of the show “All sport” broadcast on France 3this Cycling lover retired in 2017. He then went through a painful ordeal, since he discovered he had neuropathy, a very debilitating autoimmune disease. Cyclism’Actu went to meet him during the Round Picardy and the former journalist seems to be doing much better. Arnaud Demare was also in the race. “I’m not going to talk about the season review, we’re going to talk about this Sunday. Well done to the organizers, a great event, quite cool, but a great atmosphere, a great course, we were able to see the sea on the Bay of Somme, so it was nice” he declared.
Video – Henri Sannier at the microphone of Cyclism’Actu with “Jean-Mi” Guide
“If I hadn’t believed in it, I would be in the cemetery…”
How are you ?
“It’s going well and after a demonstration like the one we attended today, my morale is rock-solid!”
You’ve had more complicated days…
“I have always believed in it and I have always dreamed, you must never give up in life. I am writing a book at the moment which will be called “Le Battant”, I will fight and I will never give up. It’s true that when you firmly believe in certain things, you won’t go to the wall. If I hadn’t believed in them, I would be in the cemetery with my illness. It’s an autoimmune disease which is very difficult and which cannot necessarily be cured. I always said that I would push back the deadline, I always said that I would get back on a bike and I got back on one. bike. And it feels good. Life is a fight, you always have to win it.
Will this book be a message of hope?
“Yes, I receive a lot of mail, whether via the Internet or the Post Office, from people who are like me, who have the same illness, and who give up. They tell me ‘how are you coping? ?’, I get through it by keeping my morale high, sometimes I’m not feeling well but I try not to show it, and when we do that, we’re getting through it. That’s the message I’m sending in my book, which will be released at the beginning of the year.”
“It’s the rebirth of the Ronde Picarde”
It’s the rebirth of the Ronde Picarde, which you have carried at arm’s length for 25 years…
“Yes, this is the rebirth. The fact of seeing this event reborn, which was lost, we said to ourselves that we could no longer do it, and I had a team from Haute-Savoie who came see me and who told me that we were going to do it again. They also told me that to cheer me up, we were going to put the name Henri Sannier to the test, it’s funny, I didn’t. didn’t win the Tour de France, or any Tour… but they did it and it worked. We had more than 1,500 people registered and I’m just happy. who have come to congratulate me even though I am only the visible face of the iceberg… But it’s nice and it gives me even more hope!”
You are still popular…
“Yes, it’s largely thanks to Tout le sport, it was their daily sporting experience for about ten minutes. That’s enough for everyone. And then they all tell me, ‘Tout le sport was great’ , and it makes me feel good because now I’m in another world, I’m no longer in television at all. I sometimes do small shows from time to time when I’m asked to come… but. It feels good! It flatters the ego from time to time and it does me a lot of good.”
Those around you are essential in the face of this type of illness…
“Yes, you need an extraordinary entourage, especially since I didn’t have a caregiver. It was my wife and my family who helped me, and then my grandchildren. It’s thanks to them that I have found great morale again. They take care of grandpa, they come to bring grandpa medicine when he wakes up… I hold my hand when they go to school and I can tell you that. It’s worth all the medicine.”
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“Pogacar is an extraordinary champion, but behind…”
Where did your passion for cycling come from?
“I have always been passionate about cycling since I was little. When I was little, my parents told me about Robic, because I was born in 1947 and that year, it was Robic who won the Tour de France. Then afterwards, I went on vacation to my grandmother in Fontenay-Sous-Bois and there I saw Louison Bobet, who lived in Vincennes. He kissed my grandmother who he knew well. I loved him a lot and I always supported Louison Bobet. Then afterwards, I supported Jacques Anquetil because for me, he is the most beautiful on a bike.”
Your view on current cycling?
“It’s a cycling that I like but which lacks great champions. There is Pogacar who is an extraordinary champion for me, but I don’t sense any great champions, big names behind. And that appeals to me annoying because when I watch TV, I need champions I need to cling to a champion and at the moment, I don’t have that many champions to cling to. have a Frenchman, I like Gaudu for example and then all these young people who knock on the door, I’m sure there will be one, there’s no reason.”
The Pogacar-Merckx comparison?
“I love Pogacar, for me he is one of the greatest champions because even in adversity, Pogacar goes there, he goes for it, on Sunday he leaves 100 kilometers from the finish, but those are things madness, we say to ourselves that he will be taken back but he is not taken back. He has an extraordinary drive and that is the real champions who go to the end of themselves, he is not necessarily tactical but! he wins. I like these brave people who go with their heart and who end up winning.”
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