Bernard Hinault

Hinault started cycling as an amateur in his native Brittany. After a successful amateur career, he signed with the Gitane–Campagnolo team to turn professional in 1975. He took breakthrough victories at both the Liège–Bastogne–Liège classic and the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race in 1977. In 1978, he won his first two Grand Tours: the Vuelta a España and the Tour de France. In the following years, he was the most successful professional cyclist, adding another Tour victory in 1979 and a win at the 1980 Giro d'Italia. Although a knee injury forced him to quit the 1980 Tour de France while in the lead, he returned to win the World Championship road race later in the year. He added another Tour victory in 1981, before completing his first Giro-Tour double in 1982.

In the Tour de France, Hinault was once again set to duel with Joop Zoetemelk, who had moved to the dominant TI–Raleigh–Creda squad. Hinault won the prologue in Frankfurt, Germany, five seconds ahead of Gerrie Knetemann. On stage  5 from Liège to Lille, which contained cobbled sections used in Paris–Roubaix, conditions were poor with rain and heavy winds. Hinault called for the field to take a slow tempo, but when Zoetemelk's teammate Jan Raas attacked, he went after him. He eventually found himself in a group with several other riders, while Zoetemelk was distanced. At 20 km (12 mi) from the finish, he followed another attack from Kuiper and won the sprint at the line. The next stage was set to contain more cobbled roads, but on Hinault's protest, most of the worst parts were taken out. Hinault had however suffered damage to his left knee on the stage to Lille. Hinault finished only fifth on stage 11's individual time trial, won by Zoetemelk. While he regained the yellow jersey, Zoetemelk was second, only 21 seconds behind. With his tendinitis worsening, he carried on until the end of stage 12, just before the race was headed for the first high mountains in the Pyrenees. That night, Hinault and Guimard told the race organisers, Jacques Goddet and Félix Lévitan, that he would abandon the race, while still in the lead. He left the race at night, not informing the press, which led to a fallout with the media that took years to recover. In Hinault's absence, Zoetemelk duly won his only Tour de France. Insinuations that Zoetemelk's victory had been a gift through Hinault's absence were countered by Hinault himself: "My problems were of my own making. It is always the absent rider who is at fault. I was absent and he took my place."

Hinault had never made his dislike for riding on cobbled roads a secret. The most prominent race of this character, Paris–Roubaix, was met with particular disdain, even though he never finished lower than thirteenth. After the 1980 edition, he had said to organiser Goddet: "You will never see me in this circus again." However, he returned for 1981, saying that he did so out of respect for his stature as World Champion. He suffered seven crashes and tyre punctures, but reached the finish at the velodrome with the lead group, where he outsprinted favourites Roger De Vlaeminck and Moser. One-and-a-half weeks earlier, he had already added a victory at the Amstel Gold Race. Furthermore, he also won the Critérium International and again dominated the Dauphiné Libéré, winning by twelve minutes ahead of Agostinho.

Hinault returned to racing at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, where he won the final stage. He then took victory at the Four Days of Dunkirk. But his spring campaign lacked major successes. At the Dauphiné Libéré, he came second to Martín Ramírez, who later claimed that Hinault and his team had tried to intimidate him during the final stage of the race. A memorable episode occurred during the Paris–Nice, a race he finished third overall. During stage  5 to La Seyne-sur-Mer, Hinault was descending in a lead group with several other favourites. As they reached the valley, the road was blocked by protesters, unhappy with the announced closure of a dockyard at La Ciotat. While the other riders stopped, he drove into the group head-on, dismounted, and punched the protester closest to him. In the ensuing fist fight, Hinault suffered a broken rib.

Hinault has been outspoken about several prominent doping cases in the past years. In 2013, he heavily criticised French senators for revealing the results of tests conducted in 2004 on samples from the 1998 Tour de France. He called the initiative "bullshit" and urged lawmakers "to stop bringing out the dead", claiming they "want to kill the Tour". In the same year, he reacted to comments made by Lance Armstrong, a rider stripped of seven Tour victories due to doping offences. Armstrong suggested that it would be impossible to win the Tour de France without performance-enhancing substances. To counter this claim, Hinault replied: "He must not know what it was like to ride without doping." Armstrong later clarified that he had spoken about the time when he was riding (1999–2005). In early 2018, Hinault also spoke out about the adverse analytical result for salbutamol of four-time Tour winner Chris Froome at the 2017 Vuelta a España. He criticised Froome for taking part in the 2018 Giro d'Italia while the investigation was still ongoing. In addition, he commented that Froome could not be "listed among the cycling greats". Froome would win the Giro and become the first rider since Hinault to hold all three Grand Tour Jerseys at once. Before the 2018 Tour de France, with Froome's case still ongoing, he urged the other riders to strike in protest if Froome competed. Froome was later cleared of the charges and started the Tour where he finished third behind teammate Geraint Thomas and Tom Dumoulin.

After his retirement from professional cycling, Hinault moved to his farm and bred dairy cows, assisted by his cousin René, who had become an agricultural engineer. Just two weeks after he ended his career, the Tour de France organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), approached Hinault and invited him to join the race management team. He held several positions, including race regulator and route advisor. After Jean-Marie Leblanc took over the role as general director, Hinault was named the Tour's ambassador. Included in his duties was being present during podium ceremonies. During the podium for stage  3 of the 2008 Tour de France, a protester jumped on stage and disturbed proceedings. Hinault leapt forward and shoved him off. He stepped down from the role after the 2016 Tour de France. His role as ASO's brand ambassador was taken over by Stephen Roche, winner of the 1987 Tour de France.

With a résumé of victories that includes all three Grand Tours (all of them more than once), the World Road Championships and a number of classics, Hinault has often been cited among the greatest cyclists of all time. The Historical Dictionary of Cycling describes him as "one of the best riders ever". Comparisons are often drawn with Eddy Merckx, against whom Hinault rode at the beginning of his career. Lucien Van Impe commented: "Merckx was the greatest, but Bernard [Hinault] was the most impressive." A study conducted in 2006, ranking Tour de France riders from 1953 to 2004 by different performance indicators, put Hinault as the top Tour rider of that period, ahead of Merckx and Lance Armstrong.

Hinault was nicknamed le blaireau in French, a term that can be translated into English as either "the shaving brush" or "the badger". According to Fotheringham, the nickname originates from Hinault's early training partners, Maurice Le Guilloux and Georges Talbourdet, who would use the term to tease the young rider. Le Guilloux used it once in front of Pierre Chany, a writer for L'Équipe, and the name stuck. According to Hinault himself, the term in the first place was supposed to mean no more than "mate" or "buddy". However, Hinault later embraced the association with the wild animal. In 2003, he commented: "A badger is a beautiful thing. When it's hunted it goes into its sett and waits. When it comes out again, it attacks. That's the reason for my nickname. When I'm annoyed I go home, you don't see me for a month. When I come out again, I win." Hinault, as early as 1983, owned a stuffed badger to demonstrate his association with the animal.

Hinault never became a directeur sportif, leading a team, after his active career, as did many of his competitors. Offers from Bouygues Télécom and a Chinese investor in the mid-2000s fell through. He was the selector of the French national team from 1988 to 1993. Hinault took a role as "patron" with the British Team Raleigh squad for the 2014 season.

In January 1986, Hinault was given the Legion of Honour by French president François Mitterrand. He had, already in 1982, announced that he would retire from cycling on his 32nd birthday, in November 1986.

After the Tour, Hinault won the Coors Classic race in the United States, ahead of LeMond. He rode the World Championships Road Race, held in Colorado Springs. He aimed to win, showing a lot of effort in his preparation. However, he finished the race in 59th place. On 19 September, he won his last competitive race, a criterium in Angers, France. Hinault's retirement from professional cycling on 14 November 1986 was celebrated in Quessoy with a symbolic race of 3,600 riders, a concert and fireworks. A total of 15,000 people attended the event.

For 1985, Greg LeMond switched teams from Renault to join Hinault at La Vie Claire. Together, they entered the Giro d'Italia. During the race, Hinault was met with hostility from the home crowd, who supported local rider Francesco Moser. On the stage 12 time trial, Hinault took the pink jersey and opened the decisive gap to Moser, who would eventually finish second. During the stage however, Hinault was spat at by spectators and almost knocked over, even though his team car rode behind him with the door opened the entire time to ensure that bystanders would have a harder time impeding him. Hinault won his third Giro with a margin of just over a minute.

After winning the 1983 Vuelta a España, a return of his knee problems forced him to miss that year's Tour de France, won by his teammate Laurent Fignon. Conflict within the Renault team led to his leaving and joining La Vie Claire. With his new team, he raced the 1984 Tour de France, being savaged by Fignon. He recovered the following year, winning another Giro-Tour double with the help of teammate Greg LeMond. In the 1986 Tour de France, he engaged in an intra-team rivalry with LeMond, who won his first of three Tours. Hinault retired shortly thereafter. As of 2020 he is the most recent French winner of the Tour de France. After his cycling career, Hinault turned to farming, while fulfilling enforcement duties for the organisers of the Tour de France until 2016.

By 1983, the relationship between Hinault and Guimard had deteriorated to a point where the former described their relationship as "war". Hinault forced a choice on the Renault team to either release him or oust Guimard. The team decided to stick with their directeur sportif, leading Hinault to search for a new team. He joined forces with businessman Bernard Tapie to form the new La Vie Claire squad. Their directeur sportif became Swiss coach Paul Köchli [fr] , who had made a name for himself with innovative and effective training methods, leaving Hinault a lot of freedom while at the same time scientifically measuring his progress. As part of his connection with Tapie, Hinault also contributed to the development of the clipless pedal, created by Look, another company owned by Tapie.

Hinault returned to the Giro in 1982. He looked set for victory after the first two weeks, having taken a significant lead after wins in the stage  3 time trial and stage 12 to Campitello Matese. However, on stage 17 to Boario Terme, Guimard and the Renault team misjudged the toughness of the climb and Hinault lost the lead to Silvano Contini. He hit back the next day, winning the stage to Montecampione, turning the race in his favour.

Hinault never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during his professional career and was never implicated in any doping practices. He did, however, lead a riders' protest during a criterium race in Callac in 1982 against the sudden introduction of doping controls. He was handed a one-month suspended ban and fined CHF 1,110, though the penalty was never enforced.

Since 1981, Hinault had been joined at Renault by two young talents, Laurent Fignon and the American Greg LeMond. Both joined Hinault for the Vuelta a España, where he faced stiff competition from local riders like Marino Lejarreta, Julián Gorospe, and Alberto Fernández. Six days before the race started, he had won La Flèche Wallonne for a second time. On stage  4 of the Vuelta, Fignon attacked and won, but Lejarreta, the defending champion, had followed him and gained time on Hinault. Hinault came back and took the lead the following day on the mountain stage to Castellar de n'Hug. However, a day later, the Spanish teams jointly attacked and Lejarreta moved ahead of Hinault, who was 22 seconds down. At the uphill time trial at Balneario de Panticosa, he suffered and finished more than two minutes behind Lejarreta. Hinault joined forces with Kuiper and Saronni to attack on stage 10 to Soria, affected by crosswinds. He was in trouble again on stage 14, affected by returning pain in his knee; at one point he trailed his rivals by more than five minutes, but regained contact. In the time trial around Valladolid on stage 15b, Hinault won, now just ten seconds behind Gorospe, the new leader in the general classification. The following day brought the last mountain stage and Renault put pressure on Gorospe from early on. Hinault, joined by Lejarreta and Vicente Belda, escaped for 80 km (50 mi), distancing Gorospe by over twenty minutes with Hinault taking victory in Ávila, sealing his second Vuelta victory. Due to the tightly fought battle between Hinault and his Spanish competitors, the 1983 race is described on the Vuelta's website as "one of the most beautiful and spectacular" editions.

As was often the case, Hinault started the season slowly in 1980, withdrawing from Paris–Nice. He then entered Paris–Roubaix, partly to prepare for the cobbled sections in the upcoming Tour de France, and finished fourth. A week later, he scored one of his most memorable wins at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. As soon as the riders left Liège, snow began to fall, soon turning into a blizzard. Hinault wanted to abandon, as had many others, including all but one of his teammates. He was convinced to carry on until the feeding station at Bastogne, where the snow had turned into rain. Only 21 riders were left by this point. Hinault removed his rain cape and attacked, catching up to the leaders and carried on by himself, winning with a margin of almost ten minutes ahead of Kuiper. The victory came at a price, as his right index and middle fingers took weeks to recover from frostbite, and caused him pain for several years.

Hinault was however not always successful in his endeavours. During the 1980 Tour de France, he sought to remove the rule which excluded riders outside the time limit on each stage. He urged the riders to protest and ride slowly, but some did not follow his example, forcing Hinault to chase them down before he eventually left the race. His enigmatic exit from the 1980 Tour created tensions with the press that would persist during the rest of his active career. By 1982, debates about his personality started to appear more and more in the media. Particular interest was given to an alleged lack of panache during his Tour wins and his behaviour towards fans and officials, whom he treated with open disgust. Fotheringham suggests that Hinault only regained popularity with the French public after his knee problems and his Tour defeat in 1984. Fellow racer Robert Millar suggested that in 1986 in particular, Hinault attempted to win over the French public by riding aggressively.

The 1979 season started slowly for an off-form Hinault. He bounced back at the La Flèche Wallonne classic in April, when he caught up to a breakaway by Giuseppe Saronni and Bernt Johansson, outsprinting the former to win the race. He then beat Zoetemelk to victory at the Dauphiné Libéré, winning four stages. He won the race by over ten minutes, also taking the points and mountain classifications. In the coming weeks ahead of the Tour, he proved his willingness to assist his teammates to ensure their loyalty, helping Lucien Didier win the Tour de Luxembourg and finishing second behind Roland Berland in the National Championship race.

At the beginning of 1978, the Gitane team was taken over by its parent company, the state-owned car manufacturer Renault, becoming Renault–Gitane–Campagnolo. Hinault started the season with second place at Paris–Nice. He then competed in the Critérium National de la Route. Trailing Raymond Martin by more than two minutes before the final 22 km (14 mi) time trial, he made up his significant deficit and won the event.

During his active career, Hinault was known as the patron of the field, meaning the rider with the highest authority. His biographer William Fotheringham has described him as "the last of the sport's patrons". In this role, Hinault would use his influence with race organisers, control the pace of the peloton, and allow or refuse other riders the chance to attack. The riders' strike at Valence d'Agen in the 1978 Tour is cited as the first instance in which Hinault assumed this role. His fellow riders stated that he, even though he did not talk much, was able to exert a high amount of certainty and therefore strength, which brought him respect and sometimes fear from his competitors. To signal his authority, Hinault often symbolically rode at the front of the field, instead of in the slipstream of his teammates. His riding style has been described as "fighting, full of aggression", and he stated that when he did not feel good in a race, his reaction would be to attack. Hinault described his own role as follows:

During the spring classics season of 1977, Hinault left the Tour of Flanders before it had even started, not wanting to risk his health in a rain- and cold-affected race on cobbled roads. This drew him a formal warning by Guimard for his conduct. Three weeks later, Hinault won Gent–Wevelgem in a solo effort after an attack 30 km (19 mi) from the finish. Five days later, at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Hinault followed an attack by favourite André Dierickx, and beat him in the two-man sprint to take his first victory in one of cycling's "monuments". In accordance with Guimard's plan to build Hinault up slowly, he did not enter the Tour de France. He did however start the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, seen as the most important preparation event for the Tour. While in the leader's jersey on the penultimate stage to Grenoble, Hinault attacked up the Col de Porte, leading Van Impe and Bernard Thévenet by 1:30 minutes when crossing the summit. On the descent, he misjudged a hairpin corner and crashed down the mountainside. A tree saved him from falling far down, while his bike was lost. Hinault then climbed back onto the road, took a new bike and without showing any hesitation, continued on. Up the finishing climb in Grenoble, he briefly dismounted, still shocked from the near-death experience and pushed his bike for about 20 m (22 yd), before remounting and winning the stage eighty seconds ahead of Van Impe. This also secured him the overall victory ahead of eventual Tour winner Thévenet.

For 1976, Hinault stayed with Gitane, as former professional Cyrille Guimard, who had just retired from cycling, took over the team and became directeur sportif. Guimard and Hinault got along well, and the latter was kept out of the high-profile races for 1976, instead focussing on a steady improvement in lesser known races such as Paris–Camembert, which he won. That year, Guimard spurred Lucien Van Impe to his only win in the Tour de France. Hinault's progress was visible, with a second consecutive victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe, a third place at the Grand Prix du Midi Libre and a win at the Tour de l'Aude, ensuring him the Prestige Pernod, the award for the best French rider of the season. In total, Hinault won 15 races in 1976. At the end of the year, he came sixth at the World Championship Road Race, being beaten to the line for fifth by Eddy Merckx.

In January 1975, Hinault turned professional with the Gitane–Campagnolo team, run by former World Champion Jean Stablinski, on a lean wage of 2,500  francs per month. The decision to turn professional relatively early was in part taken as, had Hinault raced the 1975 season as an amateur, he would have likely been prevented by the French cycling federation from turning professional before the 1976 Summer Olympics to be part of the French team there. Early on, he showed no interest in adhering to the unwritten rules of the peloton, whereby younger riders were expected to show respect towards older ones. At a criterium race in August  1975 he went up against a coalition of senior riders, who had decided to divide the prize money between them. Hinault won all the intermediate cash prizes until five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx declared that Hinault was included in the pact. His results in his first season were impressive, with a seventh place at Paris–Nice and a victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe, earning him the Promotion Pernod, the prize for the best new professional in France. However, Hinault showed little willingness to learn the basic trades of cycling from Stablinski, often escaping early in the race instead of learning how to ride inside the peloton. Together with Stablinski entering Hinault into too many races, this led to conflicts between them.

In December 1974, just before turning professional, Hinault married Martine, who he had met at a family wedding the year before. Their first son, Mickael, was born in 1975, with a second, Alexandre, in 1981. Hinault and his family lived in Quessoy, close to Yffiniac, while he was a professional cyclist. After his retirement, they moved to a farm 64 km (40 mi) away in Brittany. Hinault had bought the 48 ha (120 acres) property near Calorguen in 1983. Martine later served as mayor of Calorguen.

Hinault and Guimard then turned their attention to the only Grand Tour he had not won yet: the Giro d'Italia. They hoped that Hinault would be able to reproduce a feat Eddy Merckx had achieved in 1974, winning the Giro, the Tour and the World Championship in the same year. This is commonly referred to as the Triple Crown of Cycling.

For 1972, Hinault was allowed to race with the over-18s. At a race in Hillion, he and René escaped from the field and reached the finish alone. They crossed the line together to share the victory, to the dismay of the race organisers. The young Hinault was heavily influenced by his trainer at the Club Olympique Briochin, Robert Le Roux, who had earlier worked with 1965 World Champion Tom Simpson. Hinault won nineteen races in his second season as an amateur, including the national junior championship against opposition a year older than him, such as future professional Bernard Vallet. He was conscripted into the military at age 18, and did not race throughout 1973. He was unable to join the army's training centre for young athletes and instead served in Sissonne with the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment. Returning to competition overweight, Hinault managed to win his first race of 1974. This was his last season as an amateur and again was highly successful, including a victory in his home town of Yffiniac towards the end of the year, where an alliance formed by four other riders was unable to hold him back. He also competed in track cycling, winning the national pursuit championship. On the road, he took part in the Étoile des Espoirs, a race open to amateurs and young professionals. Hinault finished fifth overall, and second on the time trial stage behind reigning pursuit world champion Roy Schuiten. Towards the end of the season, Hinault turned down an offer to race with the prestigious Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt, instead deciding to turn professional in 1975.

Hinault came to cycling through his cousin René, who rode weekend races. At first he had to use the shared family bike, which he rode devotedly. He received his own bike when he was 15 as a reward for passing his school examinations, and used it to travel to college. During the summer of 1971 he made training rides with René, who had problems keeping up with the sixteen-year old Bernard, even though he was an experienced amateur rider. Hinault received his racing licence from Club Olympique Briochin in late April  1971 and entered his first race on 2  May in Planguenoual. Advised only to try to stay with the other riders, Hinault won the event. Hinault won his first five races, amassing twelve wins from twenty races by the end of the year. Also during the summer of 1971, Hinault was at odds with his father about his choice to pursue cycling as a career. Joseph Hinault relented only after his son ran away from home for three days to stay with his cousins, sleeping on straw in the barn.

Bernard Hinault (pronounced [bɛʁ.naʁ i.no] ; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five in the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time.

Hinault was born on 14 November 1954 in the Breton village of Yffiniac, the second oldest of four children to Joseph and Lucie Hinault. The family lived in a cottage named La Clôture, built shortly after Hinault was born. His parents were farmers, and the children often had to help out at harvest time. His father later worked as a platelayer for the national rail company SNCF. Hinault was described as a "hyperactive" child, with his mother nicknaming him "little hooligan". Hinault was not a good student, but visited the technical college in Saint-Brieuc for an engineering apprenticeship. He started athletics there, becoming a runner and finishing tenth in the French junior cross-country championship in 1971.