Cycling. Disappearance of Jean Le Hir: « A great gentleman of cycling » is gone

“With Jean’s death, it’s a big page that turns, for his family above all, but also for us and cyclo-cross in general. He will remain the founding president of the Lanarvily cyclo-cross. He was a phenomenon, a colorful character who did not go unnoticed. And someone super nice, that, we can’t take away from him… Whether it’s for cycling or his business (Jean Le Hir was at the head of an agricultural work company and a farm), he was always to serve. He hadn’t moved from home for a while. The last time I saw him was a month and a half ago, on a Sunday morning. He was tired, but it was okay. It was the covid that took it away. Maybe he would have lasted a little longer without that crap, because he was a real force of nature.

“When I think of Jean Le Hir, I immediately think of the 1982 world championship in Lanarvily. Only he would believe in such a thing. A world championship in a village? It was totally improbable… He was an irreducible person who, when he wanted to do something, did it. He was genuine, willful and determined. With him, nothing was impossible. He is also someone who had a wish: to meet Brigitte Bardot (laughs). As I met her twice, and she was the same age as him, each time I saw Jean, he asked me: « When are you introducing her to me? » « . At the same time, we wanted to please him: his passion, his project, quickly became ours. He had a power of persuasion that no one could resist, so honest and authentic was he. And his hands he had! When he shook your hand, you had to be careful not to get it broken! He is a great servant of cycling, and of cyclo-cross in particular, who passed away today…”.

“He was genuine, willful and determined. With him, nothing was impossible. »

“Jean was a great figure in cycling, who did a lot for our sport. He was a happy character, always full of spirit, who was always in the action. He has the great merit of having succeeded in placing Lanarvily on a map and of having made it known. A tall man… « .

“We knew he was diminished but from there to imagine that he would leave with the Covid… I had known him for more than forty years, he was a real force of nature. I first knew him as a cyclist, even if he was already at the end of his career when we first met. Then, I worked a lot for him, since the 1982 world championships… He was quite a character, someone adorable, who went everywhere and who we couldn’t stop. A real steamroller, who had all the contacts he needed to organize his race. But he was a charming person, very open, comfortable with everyone and always available. He was unavoidable, someone like we will unfortunately never see again…”.

“He embodied popular, rural cycling, which has become more professional today. But it is thanks to people like him that our sport has been able to modernize and evolve. He was a pioneer, but also someone of values, to whom it was impossible to say no”.

“Everyone knew him in the cycling world. Today, it is an emblematic character, a great figure of the bicycle who disappears. We runners can only thank him for everything he has done, for allowing us to exercise our passion (Francis Mourey won two French championships in Lanarvily, editor’s note). He embodied popular, rural cycling, which has become more professional today. But it is thanks to people like him that our sport has been able to modernize and evolve. He was a pioneer, but also someone of values, to whom it was impossible to say no. And when you shook his hand, you remembered it for a week! A great cycling gentleman to whom we owe a lot. It was always a great pleasure to come to his race, to see him”.