Former Monty Python comedian Eric Idle has said that watching coverage of this year’s Tour de France cycling race is making him miss his late friend Robin Williams.
Academy Award winner Williams, who died in 2014 after battling mental health issues, was a cycling enthusiast and regular spectator at key stages of the famous race after becoming friends with former champions Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong.
Idle made a reference to one of the Tour’s most famous climbs – the Col du Tourmalet – as he reminisced about Williams on Twitter.
Idle wrote: “Watching the Tour de France and inevitable missing Robin Williams.
“He and I went up the Col de (sic) Tourmaler in less than an hour. Of course we were in a car, but still it’s bloody steep.”
Watching the Tour de France & inevitably missing Robin Williams. He and I went up the Col de Tourmalet in less than an hour. Of course we were in a car, but still it’s bloody steep.
— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) July 27, 2018
One of Idle’s social media followers replied with pictures of Williams wearing cycling lycra and with his arm around Armstrong following the completion of a stage of the Tour.
Idle replied to the post by simply writing: “Heartbreaking”.
Heartbreaking.
— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) July 27, 2018
In 2016 a collection of 87 bikes owned by the Good Will Hunting star were sold in an online auction for US$600,000 (£460,000).
Idle and fellow comedians Billy Crystal and Steve Martin have shared their memories of Williams in the HBO documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind.
The programme, which is largely told in Williams’s own voice, will air in the UK on Sunday at 9pm on Sky Atlantic.