Kévin Réza on September 20, 2020, before the last stage of the Tour de France between Mantes-la-Jolie and Paris. – Marco Bertorello / AP / Sipa
- Like every Monday, 20 minutes gives voice to a sports actor or actress who is making the news of the moment. This week, it’s time for Kevin Réza.
- Born in Versailles, of Guadeloupe origin, Kévin Réza is one of the few blacks in cycling, overwhelmingly white.
- If he assures that his sport is not racist, the runner of B&B Hotels p / b KTM regrets a too slow evolution of behavior.
- Réza, victim of racist incidents in 2014 and 2017, looks back on the situation suffered by Nacer Bouhanni, threatened and insulted on social networks.
A stormy sprint that turned into turmoil on social networks. Nacer Bouhanni was the victim of racist insults on social networks after having crushed the Briton Jake Stewart on March 28 during the Cholet-Pays de Loire race. In this case, the sprinter of the Arkea-Samsic team was able to count on the support of Kévin Réza. One of the few black riders in the peloton already had
spoke on the subject of discrimination last summer, during the Tour de France 2020, with British and American media.
Thursday evening, before taking the plane to compete in the Tour of Turkey with his B & B Hotels p / b KTM formation, he agreed to talk about it again at 20 minutes on the phone. Even if the Ile-de-France native of Guadeloupe (32 years old), targeted by racist incidents on the Grande Boucle in 2014 and then on the Tour de Romandie 2017, does not want a spokesperson role: “To me alone, I won’t be able to change anything, ”he warns.
How do you react to the racist insults received by Nacer Bouhanni?
I find that unfair. People mix everything up. These are reactions out of proportion to what Nacer was able to do in the sprint. I have the impression to see the reactions of football supporters to a lack of ambition of their team. That does not make any sense.
The reactions have nothing to do with the basic incident …
Maybe the media does not help calm the madness of some people, and that accentuates this phenomenon. People who read the headlines or the reactions of certain journalists are going to react to what those headlines have highlighted and they are not going to make up their own mind about a race event.
Maybe Nacer has a bad reputation in cycling. It is a character of the bicycle. We like it or we don’t like it, but we take it as it is. He’s a very good friend. We went pro the same year. I can understand what he’s going through now, even though I haven’t experienced it on this scale. Receiving insults, threats on social networks, that has never happened to me.
Did you talk to him about it?
Yes, we traded. I am one of his supporters. Once again, what happened in the race and the insults he receives are two different things. Do not mix everything up. He remains a human being, he has the right to be treated like everyone else. It is not acceptable to receive this type of abuse.
Did this event bring back painful memories in you?
Misadventures, I have lived through them, I have lived with them since I was little. I try to put things into perspective. I am getting older. Memories anchored in me came back but I try to move forward. Even if it’s boring.
A few months ago, you said that cycling had a lot to learn about racism. Has there been a freedom of speech in the wake of the Black Lives Matters movement?
In cycling, we don’t take the initiative to change things. We always wait for a drama or this type of phenomenon to try to shake things up. And again, it is difficult to push them around… The day our Federation (the UCI) takes the lead, it is not tomorrow the day before.
Cycling remains a very conservative sport …
Yes. Since the last Tour de France and my statements, not much has changed. The French Federation (FFC) contacted me to be the sponsor of a project which consists of doing prevention with young Hopes. They must pay attention to social networks, be aware of sexist and racial discrimination, to prepare for what will be their future job, if all goes well for them. This is a good thing. The FFC is taking the lead, but at the higher level, at the UCI, there is nothing done, no declaration, or reform. Today we are talking about Nacer. Who will tomorrow be? Their politics are difficult to understand.
What do your teammates and colleagues say, who are white? You criticized them last summer for not keeping up with the news. Has it evolved?
Not especially. There are some who focus on themselves, they don’t really see what’s going on in the world. I am a cyclist, I do not want to disperse myself to do dialogue meetings to explain that George Floyd was killed in the United States, that there are rallies everywhere in France against discrimination and racism. Some are good at looking at social networks, but it’s easy to find out, see what’s going on around you.
You say you have been living with these “misadventures” since you were a child …
I grew up in the Paris region, near La Défense, in a mixed environment. But among children, at school, we are very mean, with words that we do not understand the scope when we are six or seven years old. Since I was very young, I have known racism. I grew up with it, but it hasn’t been a constant phenomenon.
In cycling, it’s always surprising to have a black child on a successful bike. I started when I was 4, I was pretty good. We looked more particularly at my performances. But I didn’t have a history in cycling school, nor in the junior or hopeful categories. The first story, I had it with the pros in 2014 (Jean-René Bernaudeau, manager of Europcar where Réza was then running, accused the Swiss Michael Albasini of having called him a “dirty nigger”, which Albasini had denied; in 2017, Italian Gianni Moscon was suspended for six weeks by his Sky team after racist remarks against Réza).
The insults you suffered in 2014 and 2017, it can still happen today without reaction from the UCI, according to you?
Unfortunately, the only example I could give is the ongoing Nacer story. I wouldn’t want us to wait for another story for the UCI to move, to put things in place. When I had my problems in 2014 and 2017, I did not hear from the UCI. I will not think for them. They are in place to look into this kind of problem.
About the 2014 Tour, you said that at the time you were very young, that you preferred to concentrate on the race. If it happens again, will you react the same way?
Not at all. At the time, I didn’t have the kidneys strong enough to handle all of this. But today I won’t let anything go. Thank God, it’s very rare in the community, at least concerning me. I don’t know if it happened with other black runners. I’ve been a pro runner for 11 years, and I’ve had two stories like this. It is not a racist environment.
In the peloton, are there any riders you want to avoid?
No. We’re talking about a minority, stupid people who don’t think before they speak. It’s like in a football stadium. It is not the entire public that is racist, it is a small number. But it makes noise.
Exactly with the public, have you ever had problems of this kind with the racing public?
No more. The spectators are generally there to encourage me and do it very well.
Have you felt a change in behavior since you started your career?
If there has been any change, it has been a year. In 2020, there is the tragedy we know in the United States. It made a lot of noise. I was interviewed on the Tour de France. People realized that the phenomenon was present, I am convinced of it. But there was not too much of a reaction
Cycling is becoming more and more international, both for races and for runners. It can help open-mindedness, right?
Yes. There are more and more runners from Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Africa. It’s a good thing they can show off at the pro level. It’s part of the normal advancement of sport. We can ride bikes all over the world. It is also a good thing that Africa is opening its doors to competition.
Are you optimistic about the future?
It will evolve. In a sport as popular as football, the FFF is putting things in place against racism and sanctions. I remain hopeful that other sports like cycling will do the same, even before I quit my career and for the next generation.