An unsettled score with the Grande Boucle to settle calmly? Let's say that Eric Boyer simply couldn't digest his withdrawal five stages before the end of the 1995 Tour. So, the now sixty-one-year-old who raced with Polti back then, closed the circle exactly thirty years after that forfeit which preceded his early career retirement by a few months.

Three-time stage winner at the Giro d'Italia, good Eric, as told to L'Equipe in a long and intense interview with Lèna Guihéneuf, completed his eighth Tour last September, embodying the premise: "it's never too late".

"At the start of that 1995 edition, I didn't know it would be my last appearance in the Grande Boucle, where I received permission to join breakaways alongside Miguel Indurain and Johan Bruyneel. I accepted Polti's proposal at the last moment and didn't hesitate to challenge myself, whether I would find good form after ten years as a professional, or choose to stop. I had developed a taste for breakaways, so things changed with the arrival of the mountains".

Boyer struggled in the Alps and Pyrenees, where the shock of Fabio Casartelli's death was extremely strong in the peloton, the day after crossing the finish line without time calculation being applied. He adds: "I was in such a state of physical and psychological suffering that I put my foot down. Without announcing it to others in the following days after withdrawing from the 1995 Tour, I decided to quit".

It was last summer. Eric, proud of his cycling achievements even after his racing career (driver for Bernard Hinault, Paris-Nice organizational staff, sports management specialist, Cofidis General Manager), receives a proposal from friends: "They asked me to ride together for a week in the Central Massif and Vaucluse. In the last three years, I've had more time to focus on myself, traveling, cycling, and running, even completing my first marathon. And while initially I thought of doing everything solo like a bike-packer, I discussed it with Claude Droussent (longtime L'Équipe editor), forming a group of about ten people including Patrick Chassé, my former physiotherapist, the mechanic from when I raced with Guimard, another mechanic from the Cofidis era, and a fellow soldier. Oh, and a cousin too".

Boyer and his adventure companions rode driven by wounded pride: "Yes, because on July 20th at the Étape du Tour (Albertville - La Plagne, 131 km) I couldn't go on. I didn't touch my bike again until August 12-13, when I was on vacation doing rafting with my young daughter. From that 1995 edition, I only remembered the Liège arrival, where I was up front, and Armstrong's victory in Limoges, watched on TV. And I even found the exact spot where I withdrew, along the Col de Marie-Blanque".

Sometimes memory plays tricks. Eric had forgotten about the Soudet, which immediately presented him with its harsh bill. His legs started turning, on the eve of the Pau-Bordeaux, 236 km, wisely completed in two parts. The Montpon-Ménestérol - Limoges 165.5 km in the hilly Limousin slightly scared Boyer, who instead positively experienced his improving condition with each passing day. Conclusion with ironic tone and emotion: "After the 45 km time trial around Lake Vassivières, finished outside the time limit, I wanted to arrive at the Champs-Élysées. Said and done: it was a powerful moment, the clear and invaluable perception of a circle finally closed".