#mottet

Le samedi 15 août, nous aurons l'honneur d'accueillir Xavier Mottet (candidat PLR au conseil national) lors d'un apéro sur la place du village à St-Léonard.

I dug out this old trannie from the Dauphine Libere from, oh, let's say 1991 shall we? Charly Mottet leading Gilles Delion up some or other underpopulated Alpine climb. Mottet, reputedly one of the 'cleanest' riders of his generation was riding for a team whose directeur sportif was Bruno Roussel, who always seemed to me to be decent, passionate, forward-thinking. He went on to find real fame with Festina in 1998.

Delion, another denizen of the Savoie region, was a decent rider too - 15th in his first Tour de France ("et meilleur francais!" in 1990), managed by another interesting character, Paul Koechli, who had coped with Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond in 1985 and 1986. Delion's best win was the 1990 Tour of Lombardy and then, as the 1990s wore on, the EPO flowed more freely in the peloton - in indirect proportion to riders' blood viscosity - and Delion and Mottet's stars faded. Funny that. Are the two events related?

I always found Mottet quite guarded and taciturn when he was a rider, but I bet he has some stories. I wonder if he'd be ready to tell them now?