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| Bernard Hinault: ‘Of course I want to see a Frenchman win the Tour’ | Bernard Hinault: ‘Of course I want to see a Frenchman win the Tour’ |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| It’s always entertaining to watch a national institution on unfamiliar territory, and after Bernard Hinault steps out of a red Tour de France Skoda outside the Robin Hood pub in Cragg Vale, there are some choice moments. The five-times Tour de France winner has a rapid pie and pint in the bar, runs through a load of questions for the local press, then slips into cycling kit for a spin to the top of what purports to be the longest climb on English soil with a group of local cyclists. | It’s always entertaining to watch a national institution on unfamiliar territory, and after Bernard Hinault steps out of a red Tour de France Skoda outside the Robin Hood pub in Cragg Vale, there are some choice moments. The five-times Tour de France winner has a rapid pie and pint in the bar, runs through a load of questions for the local press, then slips into cycling kit for a spin to the top of what purports to be the longest climb on English soil with a group of local cyclists. |
| Repeatedly, he’s asked to sign pretty much everything from posters through T-shirts to the bunting which the locals are going to run up the telegraph poles when the Tour comes through on 6 July. It’s grey, it’s bone-achingly cold, but Hinault doesn’t shiver when later he is made to stand on top of Holme Moss for yet another photograph. This is, after all, the man who still gets pains in his fingers which he can trace back to a particularly chilly race through wet snow to win the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic in 1980. | Repeatedly, he’s asked to sign pretty much everything from posters through T-shirts to the bunting which the locals are going to run up the telegraph poles when the Tour comes through on 6 July. It’s grey, it’s bone-achingly cold, but Hinault doesn’t shiver when later he is made to stand on top of Holme Moss for yet another photograph. This is, after all, the man who still gets pains in his fingers which he can trace back to a particularly chilly race through wet snow to win the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic in 1980. |
| Hinault is no longer the angry man of French cycling, the guy who once said that he wished he had a jacket with tacks on it, to ward off the back-slappers who would hassle him after stages. The Badger has mellowed. He jumps through the hoops that are part of his contract with the Tour de France organisers with the same professionalism that was his hallmark on the bike: he has signed up for it, so he gets on with the job. | Hinault is no longer the angry man of French cycling, the guy who once said that he wished he had a jacket with tacks on it, to ward off the back-slappers who would hassle him after stages. The Badger has mellowed. He jumps through the hoops that are part of his contract with the Tour de France organisers with the same professionalism that was his hallmark on the bike: he has signed up for it, so he gets on with the job. |
| Seamlessly, almost surreptitiously, Hinault has joined the establishment. In the turmoil that has surrounded the Tour in recent years, the Breton remained one of the constants – a reminder of simpler times, when the Tour was often a contest between Frenchmen. His career ended in 1986, in a year that marked a turning point for the sport, with Greg LeMond’s Tour de France win marking the point where it became truly international. It was one of the most controversial races of recent times, with LeMond insisting that Hinault tried to rob him of victory; to this day, Hinault maintains he always had the young American’s best interests at heart. | Seamlessly, almost surreptitiously, Hinault has joined the establishment. In the turmoil that has surrounded the Tour in recent years, the Breton remained one of the constants – a reminder of simpler times, when the Tour was often a contest between Frenchmen. His career ended in 1986, in a year that marked a turning point for the sport, with Greg LeMond’s Tour de France win marking the point where it became truly international. It was one of the most controversial races of recent times, with LeMond insisting that Hinault tried to rob him of victory; to this day, Hinault maintains he always had the young American’s best interests at heart. |
| We drive from Cragg Vale over the Moss and up and down the plethora of little climbs that will make stage two of the Tour into Sheffield one of the toughest opening-weekend stages the race has seen in recent years. The Badger waxes lyrical about the stone walls – “imagine the skill, the hours of work that’s gone into those” – speculates about what wine you might drink if you shot and cooked one of the pheasants in the moorland fields, and enjoys the comparison between Yorkshiremen and the famously tough and slightly insular Bretons. | We drive from Cragg Vale over the Moss and up and down the plethora of little climbs that will make stage two of the Tour into Sheffield one of the toughest opening-weekend stages the race has seen in recent years. The Badger waxes lyrical about the stone walls – “imagine the skill, the hours of work that’s gone into those” – speculates about what wine you might drink if you shot and cooked one of the pheasants in the moorland fields, and enjoys the comparison between Yorkshiremen and the famously tough and slightly insular Bretons. |
| He expects the start in Yorkshire to be “grandiose”, perhaps outstripping the London Grand Départ of 2007 in spectator numbers. “London is a big city, a huge population, I know that in the two days we did there, I’d never seen as many people. It’s still one of the very best Grand Dé parts, but it’s possible that the same people who watched the race in London will turn up in Leeds. The promotion that’s been done in Yorkshire means a lot of people are going to turn out.” | He expects the start in Yorkshire to be “grandiose”, perhaps outstripping the London Grand Départ of 2007 in spectator numbers. “London is a big city, a huge population, I know that in the two days we did there, I’d never seen as many people. It’s still one of the very best Grand Dé parts, but it’s possible that the same people who watched the race in London will turn up in Leeds. The promotion that’s been done in Yorkshire means a lot of people are going to turn out.” |
| Since London, he believes, the trend has been for each Grand Départ to see more hype, more spin-off events; his presence in Cragg Vale on a chilly spring day is all part of that. “It’s evolving. It’s not exactly getting bigger, but the events around the race are growing, they are making more of it, doing more to ensure that it’s a huge success. There’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of preparation. London marked the start of all that.” | Since London, he believes, the trend has been for each Grand Départ to see more hype, more spin-off events; his presence in Cragg Vale on a chilly spring day is all part of that. “It’s evolving. It’s not exactly getting bigger, but the events around the race are growing, they are making more of it, doing more to ensure that it’s a huge success. There’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of preparation. London marked the start of all that.” |
| As far as the racing goes, he’s not certain that Mark Cavendish will have it all his own way on day one – not a controversial view given the dominance of Marcel Kittel – and clearly relishes the succession of tight little descents on narrow roads and the gritty little climbs that pepper the end of the Sheffield stage. “The riders won’t enjoy this, especially if it rains,” he says smugly. | As far as the racing goes, he’s not certain that Mark Cavendish will have it all his own way on day one – not a controversial view given the dominance of Marcel Kittel – and clearly relishes the succession of tight little descents on narrow roads and the gritty little climbs that pepper the end of the Sheffield stage. “The riders won’t enjoy this, especially if it rains,” he says smugly. |
| “I’d probably have complained but I’d have had a bit of fun here. ‘Ce n’est pas pour des enfants de choeur,’” he smiles – not a stage for choirboys. “It’s a stage for those who don’t necessarily want to win the Tour, but who want to make an impact. It will be tough to control, you could see a couple of riders get 10 minutes here because teams may not want to take the initiative and chase. | “I’d probably have complained but I’d have had a bit of fun here. ‘Ce n’est pas pour des enfants de choeur,’” he smiles – not a stage for choirboys. “It’s a stage for those who don’t necessarily want to win the Tour, but who want to make an impact. It will be tough to control, you could see a couple of riders get 10 minutes here because teams may not want to take the initiative and chase. |
| “I don’t see a group of more than 30 or 40 at the front in the finish – it’s a very demanding course with that constant climbing and descending. If they race hard, there could be even fewer. Anyone who has come to the start of the Tour a bit off his best form thinking he’ll ride himself in in the first week is in for a shock. You can see a couple of the very best going away on the last climb.” Hinault’s tip for the best man on Sheffield’s Jenkin Road, the steep urban ascent in the finale of stage two, is Peter Sagan, the Slovak all-rounder, or – perhaps with a hint of national sentiment – the evergreen Thomas Voeckler. | “I don’t see a group of more than 30 or 40 at the front in the finish – it’s a very demanding course with that constant climbing and descending. If they race hard, there could be even fewer. Anyone who has come to the start of the Tour a bit off his best form thinking he’ll ride himself in in the first week is in for a shock. You can see a couple of the very best going away on the last climb.” Hinault’s tip for the best man on Sheffield’s Jenkin Road, the steep urban ascent in the finale of stage two, is Peter Sagan, the Slovak all-rounder, or – perhaps with a hint of national sentiment – the evergreen Thomas Voeckler. |
| Voeckler is the only French cyclist to get within a whisker of winning the Tour in recent years and the closest France has to a Tour star, 10 years after his breakthrough in the Lance Armstrong years. Hinault, however, remains the last French winner of the Tour, and it is almost 30 years since his fifth and final victory in 1985. He is not optimistic that this is about to change. | Voeckler is the only French cyclist to get within a whisker of winning the Tour in recent years and the closest France has to a Tour star, 10 years after his breakthrough in the Lance Armstrong years. Hinault, however, remains the last French winner of the Tour, and it is almost 30 years since his fifth and final victory in 1985. He is not optimistic that this is about to change. |
| “Intrinsically we haven’t got a rider who can win the Tour. On a rien. We’ve got nothing. A Frenchman can only win this year if the others race poorly. Voeckler could have won in 2011 if he had raced differently but he came fourth. If [eventual winner] Cadel Evans hadn’t put his team on the front of the bunch and made them ride behind the break on the stage to Saint-Flour, perhaps Voeckler would have won the Tour. It doesn’t take a lot.” | “Intrinsically we haven’t got a rider who can win the Tour. On a rien. We’ve got nothing. A Frenchman can only win this year if the others race poorly. Voeckler could have won in 2011 if he had raced differently but he came fourth. If [eventual winner] Cadel Evans hadn’t put his team on the front of the bunch and made them ride behind the break on the stage to Saint-Flour, perhaps Voeckler would have won the Tour. It doesn’t take a lot.” |
| Hinault is realistic enough not to get worked up about it. Cycling has internationalised since his heyday. “Cycling is open to other countries today – we’ve had Australians, Americans, English cyclists winning the Tour. You have to be the best in the world today. The Italians had to wait longer than we did after Gimondi won in 1965 [to Marco Pantani in 1998] and the Spanish went a long, long while without winning and then suddenly you had the Delgado-Indurain years. The English waited 100 years before winning the Tour. | |
| “Cycling is open to the whole world. Tomorrow it will be an African, the year after that someone from China or India. It will be the bravest rider and the one who has the most willpower, the one who has the most courage, who trains the most. Who would have thought three or four years ago that Bradley Wiggins would win the Tour de France when you saw how he raced when he was at the Cofidis team? With Wiggins, when he was in a French team, was he made to work a little bit harder? Did anyone put the structure in place that enabled him to do that? All at once, someone believed in him, someone gave him a bit of a push, and off he went.” | “Cycling is open to the whole world. Tomorrow it will be an African, the year after that someone from China or India. It will be the bravest rider and the one who has the most willpower, the one who has the most courage, who trains the most. Who would have thought three or four years ago that Bradley Wiggins would win the Tour de France when you saw how he raced when he was at the Cofidis team? With Wiggins, when he was in a French team, was he made to work a little bit harder? Did anyone put the structure in place that enabled him to do that? All at once, someone believed in him, someone gave him a bit of a push, and off he went.” |
| Hinault believes in the cycling champion as all-rounder, not just limited to the register of three weeks in July. “In my view the champion must know how to do everything – track, cyclo-cross, road – that’s a real champion.” He agrees that the only cyclist of the moment who fits that template is the Dutchwoman Marianne Vos, world champion across the board in every discipline she contests. | Hinault believes in the cycling champion as all-rounder, not just limited to the register of three weeks in July. “In my view the champion must know how to do everything – track, cyclo-cross, road – that’s a real champion.” He agrees that the only cyclist of the moment who fits that template is the Dutchwoman Marianne Vos, world champion across the board in every discipline she contests. |
| “Yes, she wins everything, she knows how to do everything. Wiggins can do it as well but never has – he can win Tours, ride time trials, ride the road, he could probably do cyclo-cross as well if he wanted. He needs to win a classic, that’s all, and I think he can do it. If he prepares well, if he has that as his sole objective, there’s no reason why he couldn’t do it. He is a rider who can win the Tour of Lombardy, perhaps Milan-San Remo next year; the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix may be a bit specialised for him, but we’ll see. Flèche Wallone, Amstel ... He can win those.” | |
| Hinault accepts that, in men’s professional cycling, the incentive of performing in the Tour is so great that the riders have no option but to specialise. “I’m not disappointed, it’s just a different way of seeing things. Everyone would like to see a champion who can win Classics in spring, then be present at the Tour de France, then go for the Tour of Lombardy. When you talk to people that’s what they say – that doesn’t happen any more. The fans miss it. [People who work in professional cycling] understand that today’s riders choose their objectives for the season but the normal human being by the roadside finds he has a bit less to dream about.” | Hinault accepts that, in men’s professional cycling, the incentive of performing in the Tour is so great that the riders have no option but to specialise. “I’m not disappointed, it’s just a different way of seeing things. Everyone would like to see a champion who can win Classics in spring, then be present at the Tour de France, then go for the Tour of Lombardy. When you talk to people that’s what they say – that doesn’t happen any more. The fans miss it. [People who work in professional cycling] understand that today’s riders choose their objectives for the season but the normal human being by the roadside finds he has a bit less to dream about.” |
| French cycling does have a good number of up-and-coming riders – Hinault likes the look of Thibaut Pinot, who won a stage of the Tour in 2012, and Warren Barguil, impressive in last year’s Vuelta a España – althouigh he misses this year’s Tour. There is Voeckler, an example, Hinault believes, of a rider with “a small engine who gets there through sheer hard work”. There are also a strong generation of sprinters led by the multiple Giro d’Italia stage winner Nacer Bouhanni, another to miss out in 2014, and the trackman Bryan Coquard. | French cycling does have a good number of up-and-coming riders – Hinault likes the look of Thibaut Pinot, who won a stage of the Tour in 2012, and Warren Barguil, impressive in last year’s Vuelta a España – althouigh he misses this year’s Tour. There is Voeckler, an example, Hinault believes, of a rider with “a small engine who gets there through sheer hard work”. There are also a strong generation of sprinters led by the multiple Giro d’Italia stage winner Nacer Bouhanni, another to miss out in 2014, and the trackman Bryan Coquard. |
| Hinault, however, doesn’t believe it is systems that make champions – they enable talented cyclists to develop, but how they progress is down to the individual, rather than the structure behind them. “In the beginning you have a man who is exceptional, who has something the others haven’t got. Then he puts in an exceptional amount of work. | Hinault, however, doesn’t believe it is systems that make champions – they enable talented cyclists to develop, but how they progress is down to the individual, rather than the structure behind them. “In the beginning you have a man who is exceptional, who has something the others haven’t got. Then he puts in an exceptional amount of work. |
| “But you don’t find those people just like that – the guy who has a little bit more in him than the rest. It doesn’t matter where he comes from, whether he’s in a French team, a British team, an Italian or Spanish team. Le champion, c’est le champion. Of course it can happen for a French cyclist.” | “But you don’t find those people just like that – the guy who has a little bit more in him than the rest. It doesn’t matter where he comes from, whether he’s in a French team, a British team, an Italian or Spanish team. Le champion, c’est le champion. Of course it can happen for a French cyclist.” |
| The question is: when? As Hinault acknowledges, with a little bite from the Badger of old. “Of course I want to see a Frenchman win the Tour – I hope it happens in my lifetime.” | The question is: when? As Hinault acknowledges, with a little bite from the Badger of old. “Of course I want to see a Frenchman win the Tour – I hope it happens in my lifetime.” |
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