Stage 4 & Final - Volta ao Algarve / No Tour for Wiggins?

The 2013 edition of the Volta Ao Algarve came to a end today with an individual time trial. Four Radioshack Leopard Trek riders, Jesse Sergent, Tiago Machado, Andreas Kloden and Jan Bakelants, were in the top 10, but it was hard to compete when World Champion Time Trialist Tony Martin blew everyone away by over a minute! Radioshack won best team, and rider Giacomo Nizzolo won the sprint jersey. I'd say this was a great race for Radioshack!

February 17, Stage 4: Castro Marim - Tavira (ITT) 34.8km

Martin wins time trial, overall at Volta ao Algarve

Reigning time trial world champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) stamped his authority on the Volta ao Algarve's final stage as the 27-year-old German scorched the 34.8km race of truth in 45:09 to win both the stage and the overall general classification. Such was the dominance of Martin's performance that his closest competitor, teammate Michal Kwiatkowski, ceded 1:07 to the flying German while Jesse Sergent (RadioShack-Leopard) notched the third best time at 1:15 down.

 
"I am really happy," Martin said. "I was really looking to have a good day, and I had a good feeling immediately this morning during the reconnaissance. The parcours was really hard, with a lot of technical parts and little climbs where it was necessary to relaunch the action every time. Fortunately, it didn't rain during the TT. It rained a little bit before, but it stopped before so we had good conditions on the course during the TT. I really pushed a lot, and everything was perfect. There was a perfect approach to the race, and the result was because of all of these things."

Kwiatkowski made it a 1-2 Omega Pharma finish for both the stage and general classification as well, finishing 58 seconds down on Martin overall.

 
"Today I liked this kind of parcours," said Kwiatkowski. "It was not one for the big gear — it was a bit more technical with a lot of shifting. I like that kind of parcours the most. I am very happy about the entire week, even on the climb yesterday. I saw the job I did in the last month to improve on the climbs pay off. I had good results at this race and I am happy about it."

Dutch time trial champion Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) clocked the fourth fastest time, 1:16 down on Martin. Westra started the stage eight seconds ahead of Kwiatkowski and 17 seconds in front of Martin on general classification, but the Dutchman lost time to the Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates. Westra would still finish on the final GC podium in third, however, with Kwiatkowski edging him out for second overall by just one second.

 
Overnight leader Sergio Henao (Sky) proved no match for the rouleurs on the Volta al Algarve's concluding time trial, losing 3:15 and the overall title to Martin, who started the day 28 seconds in arrears of the 25-year-old Colombian. Although Henao finished a respectable 14th in the final stage, beating the likes of French time trial champion Sylvain Chavanel by four seconds, he nonetheless dropped to 12th overall on general classification, 2:47 down on Martin.

The seeds of overall victory were sown by Martin the previous day, where he limited his losses to his GC rivals with an 11th place result on the Alto do Malhão summit finish, a stage won by Henao. With a stunning display of time trial prowess befitting the world champion, Martin quickly erased his general classification deficit to seal his second Volta ao Algarve overall win in three years.

"My condition is better than last year at this moment," said Martin. "I knew it was possible to not lose a lot of time from the best climbers, and my team and I made sure of it. I have to say this kind of race, with an uphill finish, a TT, and sprint stages in the beginning is perfect for me. It's the kind of race I like and I am always looking for.

"I hope this victory helps me and the team continue to get good results during the season. I'd also like to thank my team and my teammates. They really protected me and Michal for the entire week. With the bad luck of Cav in the sprints, we really focused on the GC and the TT. Fortunately, we were successful. This is not just an individual victory, but a team victory."

Stage 4 Results
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:45:09
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:01:07
3 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:15
4 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:16
5 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:30
6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha 0:01:32
7 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:47
8 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team
9 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack Leopard 0:02:04
10 Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 0:02:32 

 Final general classification
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 15:36:26
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:58
3 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:59
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha 0:01:21
5 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:01:26
6 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:30
7 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:40
8 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:45
9 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:53
10 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:02:31

Despite different reports coming out every day, it appears that reigning Tour de France Champion, Bradley Wiggins is not planning on defending his Yellow Jersey. His goal this year is the Giro d'Italia instead:

Wiggins: "I never thought for one minute I wanted to do it all again"

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) headed home from the Tour of Oman slightly disappointed by his own overall performance in the six-day race but convinced he has done the right thing by choosing different objectives and choosing the Giro d'Italia as his major goal of the season instead of a second Tour de France.

Wiggins lost 1:21 on stage one after being blocked by a late crash. Wiggins did not have the form or ambition to take on Contador, Nibali and Evans after training and racing hard the week before Tour of Oman and so he did his bit to help Chris Froome win overall.

"I was quite tired when I got here, especially on the first day, and it has not really got any better," Wiggins conceded in an interview with written media present in Oman.

"I kind of stayed where I was on that first day. When you come into a race with [training fatigue, you never know if you fly off it or if you’ll be mediocre, and I’ve been pretty mediocre…."

Wiggins is not worried about his form or lack of early season results. His approach to the 2013 season is radically different to 2012. With the Tour de France finally on his palmares after four years of trying, Wiggins has set himself a new challenge for 2013. It is not about winning every stage race he rides, it is not about learning how to win the Tour de France.

Instead, he will target the Giro d'Italia, have a go at Liège-Bastogne-Liège along the way in late April and perhaps try to complete a Giro-Tour double if he recovers well and if Froome's ambitions do not get in the way.

Wiggins seems almost relieved not to have to return to Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie and the Criterium du Dauphine, knowing that anything less than another victory could be considered a disappointment.

"I never thought for one minute I wanted to do it all again. It was more like: ‘No way, I ain’t doing all that again’. But I’ll do something else which is completely different and a new challenge, that for me was the Giro and other races along the way.

"I didn’t want to lack motivation at Paris-Nice and have direct comparison with last year all the time. There was only one outcome unless I won it all again and that would have been to fail. I really wanted to avoid that. I didn’t want to put that pressure on myself.

"I’ve committed to a completely different programme this year by targeting the Giro. Last year was about gaining the confidence through the year that I could actually win the Tour de France. Now there's a much more looking at the bigger picture of the season.

"We've worked back from that, and this period of racing and training is pretty important. Everything this year has been shuffled forward. It’s what April and May were last year for the Tour. I spent most of early January and February in Mallorca. It’s not about results but about getting the work in."

Wiggins will soon head to Tenerife with several teammates for a key block of controlled training at altitude.

He first real test of his form and first real objective will be the Volta a Catalunya (March 18-24). He will study some of the key Giro d'Italia stages and ride the Giro del Trentino (April 16-19) before probably teaming up with Froome to target Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 20) and then taper for the Giro d'Italia (May 4-26).

"I had five races before the Tour and have five this year. Liège is two weeks out from the Giro, so you should be pretty ready to go.

Weight is a massive thing for me and Liège is all about power to weight and fitness. I’m 82kg in the off season, 75kg now and 70kg at the Tour. It takes me a long time to get there, a lot of hard work. But the plan is to be ready to go, two weeks out from the Giro, and so Liège-Bastogne-Liège fits in nicely."

Emotion is the base line, all the rest is science

Team Sky gives the impression that it is driven by science, logic and a desire to produce results, with little room for emotion and improvisation. It is about hitting the right numbers and discovering marginal gains, being different and better to the rest of the peloton.

Yet Wiggins seems to need emotions to find his motivation and fire up his mojo. He's more attracted by the Giro d'Italia, with the screaming tifosi and iconic maglia rosa, than another tilt at the Tour de France.

"Emotion is the baseline, then the next step is to get the machine ready to do the job," he explained.

"I’d love to be able to do these incredible escapes in the mountain, but the reality is that I’m not that good a climber, so I have to work hard, be meticulous about what I do, and that’s made me incredibly successful.

"The Giro is special for me. It goes back to my childhood. It was one of the few races on TV along with the Tour de France when I was a teenager. I grew up reading magazines about it and the Giro was always stuck in my mind. I particularly remember Hampsten climbing in the snow (in the 1988 Giro, over the Passo Gavia). It seemed quite inspirational.

"The Tour of Italy's just a lovely race. It's the only race in cycling where they never really mention doping in the whole race. It's kind of refreshing in some way when you’re there, for the racing, because the people come out and watch the sport and idolize the racers.

"I said I’d never go back there in 2010 because it was so hard. But I’ve always had a love-hate with it and always had a soft spot for it."

No 'What If….?

Wiggins is preparing for the Giro d'Italia one step at a time. It's pointless to ask him what he will do and how it will affect him, or if he doesn’t win the Giro d'Italia. But the problem is that Wiggins doesn't do 'What if…?'"

"I don’t try and think 'what if?', especially post match. What if I die tomorrow? It means we won’t have to worry about the Giro, I never look too far ahead. I used to do that and worry. But really, it's just about taking one step at a time."  

More Bruyneel vs. Schleck Brothers

So after rolling in over 3 minutes down in the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Andy Schleck and team manager Johan Bruyneel are back in the boxing ring. This time, Bruyneel's comments are quite surprising:

Andy Schleck left behind in Saint Vallier

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-left-behind-in-saint-vallier)

While plenty has been said about uneasy relationship with RadioShack-Nissan team manager Johan Bruyneel, the image of Andy Schleck being dropped on the sixth and final climb, the Côte de la Sizeranne, on stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné still came as quite the shock.

Schleck eventually crossed the finish line of the 187km stage, 3:10 down on Tour de France rival and winner, Cadel Evans (BMC).

"I didn't expect to see that scenario at the end, but I've spoken with Andy," Bruyneel told the team's website post-stage. "What's clear here is that he's had a lack of competition. We know that. We come here with different intentions other than to win. The main goal is to see how Andy is going in the mountains. With a lack of competition in his legs, in theory we will see him getting better this week and by the end of the week we can see where he really is. It's definitely better if things like this don't happen but it isn't a disaster."

Since his last race, Liège - Bastogne – Liège where he finished 50th, Schleck has been preparing for this year's Tour having recently been awarded with the yellow jersey for the 2010 event following Alberto Contador's subsequent disqualification. 

Another of Schleck's key rivals for the 2012 grand boucle, Brad Wiggins (Sky), while puzzled at the performance didn't believe that too much could be read into it in relation to the three-week epic.

"For Andy, I don't know," Wiggins said. "I spoke with him this morning, and he seemed quite good. But he has his own system, he'll be up there at the Tour."

It was a theory echoed by Bruyneel.

"Everyone comes here looking for something different. Evans wins the stage, Wiggins takes the jersey, those are confirmations for them. We still need to find our confirmation," he said. "The Tour starts on the 30th of June so there is still awhile to go and the mountains of the Tour are even further away. It's a little bit worrisome but we'll see during the rest of the week."

Bruyneel also attempted to put an end to speculation that the younger Schleck was not necessarily guaranteed a start at the Tour de France.

"Recently it was reported that I said only Fabian Cancellara was guaranteed a spot on the Tour team. That is not what I said. Translations need to be correct. What I said was based on results Cancellara was the only one guaranteed to be on the Tour team," he clarified. "It takes nine riders to ride the Tour. Of course Andy will be there."

The Next Astana Team Leader?

Vinokourov: Maxim Iglinskiy won Liège-Bastogne-Liège "the Vino way"

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vinokourov-maxim-iglinskiy-won-liege-bastogne-liege-the-vino-way)

Alexandre Vinokourov showed up at the start of stage 2 in the Presidential Tour of Turkey in Alanya with a large smile, as did Valentin Iglinskiy because of the win of his elder brother Maxim at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Both Astana riders watched the last fifty kilometres of "La Doyenne" from their hotel room near the Mediterranean coast.

"We have awaited our first victory for a while but this is a wonderful time for our team," Vinokourov told Cyclingnews.

Janez Brajkovic opened the team's account at stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya and now Astana has three wins including two major Classics back-to-back with Amstel Gold Race (by Enrico Gasparotto) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Our start of the season was far from our expectations but these two Classics have put an end to our hard time," Vino continued. "It proves that Kazakh cycling is not only about myself. I've told Iglinskiy that after what he did yesterday, I can retire quietly."

The soon-to-be Astana team manager played his part in Iglinskiy's victory in Belgium. "I called Maxim yesterday morning before the start," Vino added. "I had noticed that he had good legs at Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne. ... He rode to perfection. He did it the Vino way! I told him to wait for the Roche-aux-Faucons and go with [Joaquim] Rodriguez. When he did it, I was confident that he'd finish on the podium. He dropped Rodriguez on St-Nicolas and turned the turbo on to catch [Vincenzo] Nibali."

Vinokourov revealed why Iglinskiy didn't win a big Classic until the age of 31. "He lacked motivation," the (substitute) member of the Kazakh Parliament said. "When he won the Strade Bianche and a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2010, I told Maxim: ‘you can ride like Valverde' but he said: ‘no!!! I'm not at this level'. This year he's gone to altitude training camps here and there and he's motivated again. After this victory, he can step up to another level. He'll go back to Kazakhstan tomorrow and take some rest prior to training for the Tour de France and why not the Olympic Games."

On the eve of the Amstel Gold Race, Vinokourov reassured the president of the Kazakh cycling federation Kairat Kelimbetov that a great win was around the corner. "I'm even happier that a Kazakh rider is the winner. It shuts the mouth of the people who haven't believed in Kazakh riders. I reminded Maxim last night when we spoke again at 11pm: ‘I've always believed in you.'"

As a result of the revival of the motivation at Astana, Vino himself went on the attack at the Tour of Turkey after 48km and won the intermediate sprint at Manavgat.

My Rabbit Is Named After Him

I'm not kidding. Meet Snickers Alejandro:

And, I think it would be awesome if Alejandro Valverde could win the 2012 Tour de France.

Valverde believes he can win the Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/valverde-believes-he-can-win-the-tour-de-france)

Having come back to racing this year after a doping suspension, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is also back to winning ways. With four victories and a podium spot at the Tour Down Under as well as Paris-Nice in his pocket, the Spaniard's balance sheet in late March is more than promising in view of his real targets this year, the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de France.

Valverde did not expect such a successful return to competition, but he told L'Equipe that he trained as hard during the last year as when he was competing. "I knew I had good shape as I had trained well at home, but I didn't think I would be able to do such a good season start. But during the suspension, I did exactly what I did before. I trained regularly, and I had two peaks of form during the year. I trained as though I was competing, but without competing."

Turning his attention towards the Classics season, Valverde admitted that Philippe Gilbert (BMC) would be the man to beat after what the Belgian showed last season. "To me, Gilbert was the best rider in the world last year," the Spaniard continued. "I would love to be able to deliver a grand duel against him in the Ardennes Classics. I'm sure this would also be great for the spectators."

On top of his other prestigious victories, Valverde won Liège-Bastogne-Liège twice in his career, and the Flèche Wallonne once. Gilbert took all three Ardennes Classics last year, on top of his first victory of the Amstel Gold Race in 2010.

But Valverde, who also has the overall 2009 Vuelta a Espana to his account, sees himself as a contender for the Tour de France this year. Even though the 2012 parcours has widely been branded as one for the better time triallists, the Movistar rider believes in his chances to take the yellow jersey.

"My idea is to fight for the general classification," said the 31-year-old, who already has two top ten results in the Tour to his name (in 2007 and 2008). "It's clear that the amount of time trial kilometres favours those riders who are specialists against the clock, like Wiggins or Evans. But the Tour is the Tour, it is very long and anything can happen, it can be over at any day. So I will do my utmost to be there, to do the best I can, even if, to me, the favourite is Andy Schleck.

"He wants to win it, but so do I. In the time trial, we are about on the same level. I think the Tour 2012 will be very open."

Can Schleck pull off a TdF win?

I am a huge fan of Andy Schleck, but I am not yet sold on the fact that he can win this year's Tour de France. With more time trial kilometers, I really don't think he has what it takes to win, even under the direction of Bruyneel. Everytime I think about Andy in a time trial, I think of how non-aerodynamic he was in the 2011 Tour de France, when he lost the Yellow Jersey:

However, Andy believes that being on Bruyneel's team, he can win the 2012 Tour de France, and I seriously hope he is right.

Schleck confident of success at 2012 Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/schleck-confident-of-success-at-2012-tour-de-france)

Having been awarded the 2010 Tour de France title in a courtroom earlier this month following the CAS ruling on Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) is confident that he can win it on the road in 2012. Much has been made of the fact that Schleck's chances this year will be increased by Contador's absence, but the 26-year-old from Luxembourg reckons he is well placed to win regardless of what anyone else does or doesn't do.

Despite having more time trial kilometres than last year - a discipline that is seen as one of his major weaknesses - Schleck insists that the other stages will suit him even more than in recent years. He also predicted that new team boss Johan Bruyneel, who has masterminded nine wins in the Tour de France in his managerial career, would extract an extra one or two percent from him, which could prove crucial.

"Compared with 2011, we anticipate more stages where I can where I can try something. I am a runner that can resist for 40 to 50 kilometers ahead as I proved when I won Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2009. In this sense, the Tour is perfect for me this year. It will be like running a classic every day," he told Luxembourgish newspaper Wort.

"If Bruyneel helps me progress a little against the clock and some also in the mountains, then I'll be better. But be realistic, this change of director will not improve my performance by 10%. If I gain 1% or 2%, that would be enough to be happy. I have to keep my qualities of climber. If you want to win the Tour, it is in the mountains where I'll make it."

Basso names Nibali to win Giro

Nibali the favourite for 2012 Giro d'Italia, says Basso

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali-the-favourite-for-2012-giro-ditalia-says-basso)

Ivan Basso has named Vincenzo Nibali as his favourite for the 2012 Giro d’Italia and suggested that Liquigas-Cannondale will tackle the race with two leaders. It had been rumoured that Nibali would forgo the Giro in order to focus on the Tour de France, but Basso insisted that he would be happy to ride alongside Nibali in May.

“My favourite for the Giro is Nibali,” Basso told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I’m convinced that in the end Vincenzo will be at the Giro too.

“The route as a whole is very well-suited to him and the absolute priority for Liquigas is to perform well at the Giro. Who will be the leader? Between us, there’s reciprocal respect. There’s no need to talk, the role of captain will be decided by the legs.”

According to Liquigas-Cannondale manager Roberto Amadio, a decision on Nibali’s participation will be left open until late April. “We’ll take stock after Liège-Bastogne-Liège, keeping in mind the form and desire of the riders,” Amadio said.

Basso believes that his own success or failure at the Giro will hinge on the race’s penultimate stage, which finishes atop the Stelvio after crossing the Mortirolo. At 2,758m, the Stelvio would be the highest summit finish in Giro history, but Basso is concerned that the weather might scupper his best-laid plans.

“If it snows on the Stelvio on May 26, we won’t go up it, and it will become hard for me to think about winning the Giro,” Basso warned. “I can hardly think of dropping everyone on the way up to Lago Laceno or Piani dei Resinelli. It’s true that the Giro is won day by day and not in one stage, but where I have to make the difference is on the Stelvio and the day before at Pampeago.”

Basso is hopeful that the final kilometres of the Stelvio can be a perfect springboard to ride into the maglia rosa. “The last 8km are 2000 metres above sea level and the last 3km are hellish,” he said. “You don’t need tactics there, just legs. The problem is that on the Stelvio it can snow even in August.”

Luxembourg's male athlete of the year...

My only question after reading this article, is what other sports does Luxembourg have if this is the 9th year that a cyclist has won this title?

Andy Schleck voted Luxembourg male athlete of the year

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-voted-luxembourg-male-athlete-of-the-year)

Andy Schleck has been named male athlete of the year in Luxembourg for the third year in a row. His brother Fränk finished behind him again in second place. It was the ninth consecutive year that a cyclist has won the award.

Andy Schleck has now won in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Fränk Schleck took the honours in 2006, while Kim Kirchen was best male athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

The Tour de France second and third place finishers could not attend the ceremony, but were ”virtually” there via a video conference.

The 26-year-old younger Schleck brother this year finished second in the Tour de France, 1:34 behind winner Cadel Evans. He won the 18^th stage and wore the leader's yellow jersey for one stage.

Schleck also won the Tour de Suisse mountains classification, was third in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and eighth overall in the Tour of California.

Fränk Schleck was the national road champion, and won the overall title in the Critérium International, also winning the first stage. He was second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and third overall in the Tour de France.

Andy Schleck won with 391 votes ahead of Fränk with 280. Tennis player Gilles Muller was third with 201.

Tennis player Mandy Minella was named female athlete of the year, ahead of Judoka Marie Muller. Cyclist Christine Majerus of Team GSD Gestion was third. Majerus won the road, time trial and cyclo-cross national titles, as well as the Coupe de France and the Kasseien Omloop Exloo.

Happy 57th Birthday to Bernard Hinault

Bernard Hinault: The greatest of them all?

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/bernard-hinault-the-greatest-of-them-all)

There are two figures who transcend the sport of cycling - giants of the road whose names are known all over the world and whose fame isn’t limited to dedicated followers of the sport. Household names, if you will. But some will argue that the greatest cyclist of all time isn’t Eddy Merckx or Lance Armstrong. Instead they’ll tell you that it’s a man who celebrates his 57th birthday today; a man who dominated cycling in the late 1970s and early 1980s; a man who remains the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France - Bernard ‘The Badger’ Hinault.

Comparing the relative merits of sporting figures from differing eras is the most inexact of sciences. The big picture becomes blurred by personal sentiment, partisanship and, in most cases, a lack of objectivity. We all have our own heroes and we all have images indelibly burned into our psyche that have come about through following professional sport. Facts and statistics can never tell the full story. Numbers and figures are unable to stir emotions and quicken the pulse in the same way that a dramatic victory or an unlikely, glorious comeback can.

Hinault’s career had all of the ingredients required to make his case of being the greatest rider of all time a strong one. He was a history maker. His towering personality and brusque charisma bestrode the sport for almost a decade. And some of his victories are etched into the annals of sporting legend, stories that will be passed down through generations of cycling fans not simply confined to his native France. Richard Moore, author of Slaying The Badger - his account of Hinault’s epic battle with Greg LeMond at the 1986 Tour de France - found that endorsement of Hinault’s greatness was easy to find when he was researching his book.

"One of the things that [legendary directeur sportif] Cyrille Guimard told me when I was doing my research was that Hinault was the most talented rider ever," says Moore. "Even more so, he said, than Merckx. I think there’s some truth to that. He didn’t want to win everything like Merckx did. But when he did want to win something he usually did. And he usually did so in emphatic style."

Hinault turned professional aged 19 in 1974, which was, symbolically, the final year of domination by the man whose Hinault’s achievements are most often compared to. As Hinault’s career was just getting started, Merckx enjoyed one of the best years of his own career in that season - winning his fifth Tour de France, fifth Giro d’Italia and his third world championship. But he would never reach such heights again and cycling would soon be looking for a new superstar.

It didn’t have to wait long to find one. Four years later, in 1978, Hinault won the French national championships before clinching a Tour/Vuelta double later in the season, all before his 24th birthday. He would go on to win the Tour four more times (1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985), one more Vuelta (1983) and three Giri (1980, 1982 and 1985). His ten Grand Tour victories are second only to Merckx’s total of eleven, and his second-placed finishes in 1984 and 1986 mean that he is the only rider in history to finish in the top two at every Tour de France that he completed. There is every chance that Hinault could have surpassed Mercx’s achievements in the Grand Tours if large parts of his career hadn’t been disrupted by persistent knee trouble. His all round ability in the saddle was reflected by the fact that he won all classifications at the Tour. He could do everything - sprint, time trial and climb.

"It was a blend of things that made Hinault stand out," says Moore. "The thing that most people think of first when they think of him is his character and personality. He was a real leader of men and was so even very early on in his career. Back then, he was completely undaunted by the big names of the time. But because we think of his character it’s easy to overlook his talent. He wouldn’t have been able to be such a leader without it."

Hinault was as famed for his aggression and his single-mindedness as much as he was for his glittering palmares. While he was busy sweeping up titles and medals, his drive and his outspokenness often put him at odds with the authorities, the media and his rivals. As the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France, one might assume that his reputation in his homeland stands somewhere between that of Joan of Arc and Napoleon. But it’s not the case.

"One journalist I spoke to in France said that Hinault’s reputation is mixed over there," says Moore. "He was very popular at the beginning of his career and towards the end, but his public image suffered in the middle years. He had a difficult relationship with the press, and that relationship reached its nadir when he pulled out of the 1980 Tour while leading the race and didn’t tell them. This made them look foolish, and as a result their reporting on him became less sympathetic.

"His reputation has improved as the French Famine, in terms of Tour winners, has gone on, but his accessibility in recent years has possibly stripped back some of the aura and mystique surrounding him. You can’t imagine Merckx or Armstrong greeting stage winners and handing out medals on the podium at the Tour. It’s a role that some people say is beneath him and his achievements, and I am inclined to agree."

But it’s better to remember Hinault on the road, back in the prime of his career. There were so many highlights, but three really stand out: his imperious win in the snow at the 1980 Liege-Bastogne-Liege; his commanding wire-to-wire victory on one of the toughest courses ever devised at the 1980 World Championships in Sallanches, where hardly any riders finished; and his final Tour win in 1985, where victory was achieved despite a bad crash.

"For me that final Tour win in 1985 sums Hinault up, really," says Moore. "He got a lot of help from Greg LeMond but seeing him battling and fighting during that final week with two black eyes and a broken nose was heroic stuff. It was Hinault through and through - courage, talent and stubbornness."

A year later Hinault kept his promise by helping LeMond to win the Tour, though his exact role in delivering LeMond to the finish line, and his perceived reticence in fulfilling that promise, has been the subject of much scrutiny and controversy. Bernard Hinault retired shortly afterwards, at the very top of his profession and at the relatively young age of 32. Secure in his position as one of the best ever. Or maybe the best.