Jean-Marie Leblanc (born 27 July 1944, in Nueil-sur-Argent, now

Nueil-les-Aubiers Nueil-les-Aubiers () is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France. Population Twin towns In 1996 it was twinned with the town of Attleborough in Norfolk, England. See also *Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department The follo ...

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

) is a French retired professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

who was general director of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

from

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, when he reached pensionable age and was succeeded by

Christian Prudhomme Christian Prudhomme (born 11 November 1960) is a French journalist and general director of the Tour de France since 2007. Pre-Tour career Born in Paris, Prudhomme studied at the ESJ school of journalism in Lille from 1983 to 1985. He joined RT ...

Biography

He became a professional in 1966 and rode until 1971. He gained his best results in

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

s, small tours, and single stage races, like the Grand Prix d'Aix-en-Provence (1968, 1st), the Circuit d'Armorique (1969, 1st), and the

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk (french: Quatre Jours de Dunkerque) is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been h ...

(1970, 2nd). Afterwards, he became a sports

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. Under his aegis, the Tour was modernised, most notably with the abandonment of the red and combination jerseys. Revenues were increased, as large numbers of sponsors were replaced by a limited number of larger ones - as well as increased income from television rights. In 1989, Leblanc cancelled further running of

Tour de France Féminin Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

, citing the economic cost of organising the race with limited media coverage and sponsorship being generated. Leblanc was president of the AIOCC (Association Internationale des Organisateurs de Courses Cyclistes) from 1989 through 2004.Sport.fr, Cycling, Cordero replaces Leblanc to AIOCC
/ref> In October 2007, he published his autobiography, ''Le Tour de ma Vie''. He took over from Jacques Duquesne as president of the JNP (Journalists Originating from

Nord-Pas de Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-C ...

). Every Christmas it awards the 'Trophy of light' to whoever has best served the region that year. Every Spring it awards the 'Golden Pen' to the author of the best article of the region. Leblanc is a fan of classical music and jazz and plays the clarinet. His ambition to play Mozart's clarinet concerto with an orchestra was realised on 27 June 2008 when he played at the Salle Philharmonique du Conservatoire de Liège (Belgium), with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jean-Pierre Haeck.

References

External links

Palmares (in French)
1944 births Living people People from Bressuire French male cyclists French journalists Tour de France directors Cycling journalists Officers of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg French male non-fiction writers Sportspeople from Deux-Sèvres Cyclists from Nouvelle-Aquitaine {{France-cycling-bio-1940s-stub