The first finish in St Lary-Soulan took place in 1974 when Raymond Poulidor won the last of his six stage wins on the race, challenging Eddy Merckx. The story was told on the podium by Daniel Mangeas, making his impromptu debut as the Tour de France speaker. It was on July 15 and the official speaker at the time, Pierre Chori, had been held back by a car problem. Race director Albert Bouvet had to find a prompt solution. Daniel Mangeas replaced him out of the blue and is still around, 41 years later, after a false farewell last summer. The talkative Normand has since commented eight finishes in Pla d'Adet. Two years later, hired as the official speaker, he was there to describe the victory by Lucien Van Impe, who beat Joop Zoetemelk on his way to overall victory. Joop had won in the same place a year earlier.
Sport in St Lary is also skiing and rugby, personalised by the Mir dynasty. Isabelle Mir, a downhill silver-medallist at the Grenoble Olympics in 1968, is the daughter of former mayor Vincent Mir and the cousin of the current mayor, former rugby union international Jean-Henri Mir.
