by huw williams » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:39 pm
Sylv
Very brief history: I met her when she was a junior just out of BMX and riding for Sunn/Chippie at the Metabief world champs in 1993
The sport was growing very quickly then, and a small group of us were following the world cup circuit round the world writing and taking pics. I spent a lot of time with Sunn doing their brochure shots and Annie, being female but as quick as the boys, was in great demand wherever we went.
It was a bit daunting for her because she's quite shy. Sunn were a small team at that time and didn't have a big budget to send a support team to the US leg of the tour so Max Commencal the president asked me if I'd look after her for them on the 3-week trip which covered the Mount Snow (Vermont), Mammoth Mtn (california) and Mont St Anne (Quebec) races.
The rest as they say is history, for the next 12 years she won more world champions jerseys than any other cyclist alive and is unlikely to ever be surpassed - we remained close all through her career (I won't go into detail about some of our post race exploits at various locations in America, Japan and Europe!!!). She also wrote a column for me every month in the magazine for a couple of years
She met her partner Phillipe Billy (then the world record holder for speed skiing) and moved to his hometown of Vars at the end of the 90s and I stayed with them several times during the off-season but not being much of a skiier (bad knees) I visited them more often when they were at her family home in Dijon. I still keep in regular touch and always try and visit her if I'm in the area for Cycling Weekly.
So the fact that she gave me her 10th world's jersey meant a lot to me and I value it highly
H