(Montreal) Alexis Lepage (triathlon) and Antoine Duchesne (road cycling) both announced their retirement from competition last summer. The days of racking up miles on asphalt or in water are over for them. Things will not be like before, both for them and for their parents.
Posted at 4:32 p.m.
The #1 fan who loses their player
Last June, Alexis Lepage had not yet made his decision whether or not to stop his career as a triathlete. A few weeks later, a year to the day after his participation in the mixed team relay at the Tokyo Olympics, he announced the end of his sporting adventure which lasted 18 years. At peace with his choice, he now focuses his energies on developing a real estate project in the Quebec region.
The collateral effect of this retirement from sport was felt by her mother Julie Gagné when her son made her read the Facebook post of his announcement before making it public. Retiring Alexis also meant she would never see him in action at the Olympics on the sidelines, as she has so often done at dozens of races.
“It saddened me a lot not to be at the Games. Forbidding parents to go to the Olympics, for me, it didn’t make sense, even if I understood that we were in the period of COVID-19, “says the one who had bought her tickets to attend the competitions and booked his hotel room in the Japanese capital.
“And besides, it was her last competition and I couldn’t see her. »
She would have liked her son to continue until the Paris 2024 Games, but she respects his decision, adding in the same breath that she is in awe of having seen him obtain baccalaureate and master’s degrees in administration during his years in sport. high level.
Julie Gagné underlines how fueled she was when she attended her boy’s competitions. And when she wasn’t there to see it in action, she often got up in the middle of the night to watch it live on web platforms.
The cut with the triathlon has not healed yet, she adds. Again this season, even if Alexis was not in action, she continued to wake up at dawn to watch Amélie Kretz, Emy Legault or Charles Paquet start in the World Series or World Cups.
The stress of falls
Like Julie Gagné, Chantale Tremblay also assiduously followed her son Antoine Duchesne in the biggest cycling races, including the Tour de France and the Rio Olympics. Jet lag was not a problem for her either.
“If he was running, I didn’t sleep for two days, no matter what race he was doing. With jet lag, I got up at 3 or 4 in the morning and never missed a second. »
The other reason for his insomnia was the fear of injury, which is quite common in this sport.
“I stressed so much for almost 20 years. I saw every fall he made. Two weeks ago (at the Tour de Poitou-Charentes, at the end of August, editor’s note), I saw him fall live and I couldn’t wait for him to let me know what was going on. That his retirement is coming, I am very happy, ”said the mother in the minutes following the conclusion of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, the day after the announcement of Antoine’s retirement.
PHOTO MATHIEU LABERGE, SPORTCOM
Antoine Duchesne, surrounded by his parents, his wife and his son when he announced his retirement from sport.
During this fall which occurred in France, the cyclist had fractured his left hand.
It was also live that Julie Gagné had seen her boy fall in competition, on a bike, before the peloton crashed into him. She also adds the time when Alexis had been hospitalized abroad and that she received a call from the Canadian embassy to inform her of her state of health following food poisoning. Another source of concern.
“It takes that stress away from me, so it feels good,” says Mme Won, happy to see the person her son has become. “I’m really proud of his journey and now, for him as for me, it’s time to move on. »
Marc Duchesne, Antoine’s father, is convinced that his son will want to find the same adrenaline of the peloton in his new life.
“As Chantale said, he may be doing something just as dangerous or different, but where he will still need to perform. More for fun and not professionally speaking. […] I’m sure it’s going to be something great and active, that’s for sure. He won’t end up behind a desk or in a warehouse. »
Tomorrow, the testimony of the mother of the cross-country skier Cendrine Browne.