Twenty-five years after he picked up two stage wins in the 1987 Tour de France, Regis Clere has passed away in hospital at 55 years of age.
The Frenchman was a well known rider in the 1980s, turning pro in 1981 with the Miko-Mercier team and winning both the prologue and stage 15B in the Vuelta a España. The following year he became French national champion and netted the combativity award in the Tour de France; in 1983 he returned to the race and clocked up victory on stage 11, and was also part of the victorious team time trial squad.
After several quieter years, he returned to the top with Teka in 1987, the year of Stephen Roche’s Tour victory, when he clocked up stages 16 and 23 in the race. The successful season also brought wins on a stage and the overall in the Route du Sud, plus a stage victory in the Volta a Galicia.
Clere spent two more years with the Teka team but his career petered out, eventually stopping in 1992.
Media reports stated that he passed due to heart failure, with one saying he had undergone an operation and succumbed during the procedure.