It’s sort of a sad day for me as one of the greatest breakaway specialist I’ve ever seen race retires. Jacky, nicknamed “Dudu”, was a very likable rider and had a major fighting spirit. I love to watch this guy ride, and loved his approach to racing. Did he win a lot? No but he tried, tried and tried again and when it didn‘t work one day he got up and did it again the next. His quote "I either win or lose, nothing in between," showed his style. Did he win? Yes, and he won from the front and that’s the same place he lost from. You hardly ever saw Jacky sit back and wait, he took the race to people and when he lost it wasn’t because he didn’t try. You see Jacky had a certain strategy, he would attack and or start or get in a breakaway on a constant basis. You could count on it. But there’s more to it than that. Riders who ended up in a break said he had a knack for controlling the break and keeping them just dangling a few minutes off the front. When the peloton sped up, under Jacky’s direction the break did. When the peliton slowed down, he directed the break to. Instead of working to hard and building up a massive lead only to me blown to bits when the peloton woke up and decided to chase. His approach saved energy and frustrated the chase group. From a tactical sense it was brilliant. You also felt for the guy at times, it’s hard to watch someone try so hard and then lose it all at 400 meters left to go. It all started for Jacky in 1992 when during the Tour of Flanders he won out of a 217km breakaway which was the first win by a Frenchman in a Belgium classic in 36 years. In 93 and 94 he was the French national champion, and won 2 stages in the 98 Tour de France. Maybe now he’ll get some rest.

november's entry