Almost a month after the tragedy in Paris where an SUV driver ran over an activist cyclist, Paul, highlighting the car-bike conflict in the capital, it is Limoges which is in shock at the death of an emblematic figure of the cityknown to everyone and knocked down by a motorist.
“The man in blue” is what he was nicknamed. This emblematic cyclist from Limoges has been roaming the city in overalls for more than thirty years. Jean-Marc Chatard, his real name, was fatally struck down by a car, Friday evening, November 8.
It is then 6:30 p.m. on the D979. A driver knocks him down and the septuagenarian is left for dead by the side of the roadbroken necks. Since then, tributes have been pouring in to pay homage to a character in local Limouge life.
“His bike was his means of freedom”
Bernard Thalamy knew him well: he is the mayor of Aureil, where his family lives. “People are sad. It’s someone who is in overalls and high boots, whatever the seasonwhatever the weather. Who goes for a bike ride, who comes back in the evening with bread for a good thirty years… it had become an actor in the local landscape, remembers the mayor.
“What really shocked was the fact that everyone in Limoges knew him. He even had a newspaper in his name, which was called The man in blue. It was truly the symbol of Limoges,” says Gabin Fabre, vice-president of the Véli-vélo de Limoges association. “In Limoges it’s the fourth cyclist who died in a year“, he affirms. It is the second cyclist broke in less than a month on this departmental road.
“His bike was his means of freedom, it was his means of getting around, of escaping. And he died,” laments Gabin Fabre. The driver, meanwhile, is on the run. Sunday, November 10 in the evening, the gendarmerie has issued a call for witnesses. A rally will be organized on Saturday November 16 in front of Limoges town hall.
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