Tour de France 2025. He raised his arms in Hautacam in 1994: Luc Leblanc, forever the first

His memories are still clear. Much clearer, in any case, than the Pyrenean sky on July 13, 1994. That day, in a fog that one would swear was impenetrable, Luc Leblanc flew ahead of a Miguel Indurain dressed all in yellow to secure one of the greatest victories of his career in Hautacam, an unprecedented finish at the time (*). "It was a miracle," he judges, 31 years later. A stone's throw from Lourdes, this makes sense for someone who, when he was younger, came close to entering the orders.

Having suffered a physical injury since a hit-and-run driver hit him at the age of 11 – an accident that cost his brother his life – Luc Leblanc has never stopped battling his painful left leg. After a "catastrophic" start to the 1994 Tour de France , the ^11th stage between Tarbes and Hautacam was anything but reassuring. Consumed by pain, he hesitated to give up. "I was last in the peloton, on the verge of giving up," said the man who would become world champion in Agrigento (Italy) a few weeks later.

Hidden behind the clouds, Hautacam is still keeping a low profile. Luc Leblanc, for his part, is starting to climb back up the slope. At the foot of the pass, the Festina-Lotus rider is "handing out the exit tickets": the start of the climb is taking its toll, the others are dropping out one by one. Ahead, Marco Pantani is making a run for it. "When he sets off, I tell myself that the pace is likely to be high, and that it's better to stay in the wheels of the Banesto team [of the Yellow Jersey Miguel Indurain]," recalls "Lucho." Six kilometers from the summit, he finds himself alone in the wheel of the Spaniard, a candidate for a fourth consecutive title.

Pantani was caught 2.5 kilometers away by this duo, in which Leblanc spared no effort. It was one of his accelerations that would send the Italian's ambitions packing: "When we caught him, I told myself that we shouldn't give him the chance to get back on track." The beginnings of a similar attack as he approached the finish line, to leave Indurain behind. "At the time, people said he had left the stage to me," the Limousin rider lamented, before replying: "I did my job because I wanted to win, and I knew I was better than Miguel in terms of explosiveness." With his fist raised, Leblanc crossed the finish line with a smile on his face.

Returning there in 2022 to witness Jonas Vingegaard 's victory, he swears "he didn't recognize the place," this time bathed in sunshine. This Thursday, he will be there again to admire the battle that is looming on a climb recently named "Montée Luc Leblanc."

(*): At the Festina trial in 2000 and then in his book Moi, Lucho – L'important, c'est de rester vivant (ed. Solar), Luc Leblanc admitted to having resorted to doping in 1994 "to stay at [his] level".