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The Guardian
7 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
France's wait for Tour win rumbles on with no prospect of victory in sight
Age is not just about the policemen getting younger and trying to figure out how to operate an iPhone. It may also be when you are able to tell your children that you once saw an actual French cyclist wearing the actual yellow jersey of the Tour de France having actually just won la grande boucle. It's 39 years, 11 months and about three weeks since I watched a tired and slightly diminished-looking Bernard Hinault get out of a car in a backstreet in Lisieux – once the massive crowd pressing on the car doors had been moved on by the heavies – before pulling on that maillot jaune, getting wearily on to his bike, before spinning past, time after time in the late-evening sunlight in the town's annual post-Tour critérium, an exhibition race which still takes place on the first Tuesday after the Tour. If you had suggested, that mellow evening, to any of the crowd who lined the streets in the Norman town that, 40 years later, no Frenchman would have managed to succeed Hinault in winning the Tour, they would have laughed in your face and assumed you had over-indulged on the local cidre bouché. Back then the French had won nine of the past 11 Tours and, while Hinault was heading for retirement, the obvious successor was waiting in the wings: Laurent Fignon, who had won the 1984 race in dominant style and was, 12 months on, getting over a tendon operation. Fast forward to this weekend in Lille when the Tour has its Grand Départ – on French soil, which is something of a departure – and no Frenchman will be named among the race favourites, as has been the case more often than not since I first reported on the Tour in 1990. The national soul-searching will go on, having kicked off in 1992 when Fignon was heading for retirement and it was also clear that the other 'next Hinault' of the 80s, Jean-François Bernard, wasn't going to win the Tour either. Prospective French Tour winners have come and gone: from Richard Virenque and Christophe Moreau in the 90s to the most recent generation: Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot, both retired, and Warren Barguil, who is on the edge of retirement and starts this Tour for the Picnic PostNL team as a minder to a very young Scot, Oscar Onley. There may be French stage wins this year, from Lenny Martinez, Romain Grégoire or Kévin Vauquelin perhaps, and at a pinch one of the trio might stretch to victory in the King of the Mountains jersey. If a Frenchman makes the top 10 overall it will be a surprise, and the pressure seems to have got to the last Frenchman to get near the podium – David Gaudu (fourth in 2022) – is in such poor form he won't even make this year's race. Hinault is as baffled as anyone by the drought, but that's not new: he has been baffled by it since I first interviewed him in 1993. Interviewed this week by L'Équipe, he said he 'wouldn't have bet a centime on [going 40 years without a French Tour winner]'. He added: 'It's a terrible thing to say, but it can't be avoided: there are no more big champions in France capable of winning the Tour. We don't have a big machine, 1000cc, to make the difference – they are 750cc.' The Badger's last Tour, 1985, was midway through a key decade in cycling history when the sport went from being small scale and parochial to truly multinational. Since then, victory in the Tour has gone to Ireland, the USA, Australia, Great Britain, Colombia, Germany, Denmark and Slovenia. With hindsight, it now seems that for 40 years after the second world war the French dominated a far more parochial race; the sport then opened up leaving far less space for them. Added to that, over the years, the base of the pyramid of amateur cyclists that will produce Tour winners has drastically reduced. Forty years ago, every hamlet in Brittany and Normandy had its bike racer and its bike race. The amateur calendar has been eviscerated and those races that remain are struggling for entries, while the bigger amateur teams are signing British cyclists in droves, presumably because local talent is hard to find. Finding great Tour champions is a haphazard business. No one would have predicted two greats emerging from Slovenia simultaneously any more than they would have expected Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche or Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas to emerge at the same time. It's a perfect storm for France: fewer potential champions to choose from and greater competition for those that emerge. Looking for the next Hinault, all eyes are on an 18-year-old, Paul Seixas, who has made waves in his first year as a professional after winning the 2024 world junior time trial championship, and who is rightly considered too young for this year's Tour. The history books are peppered with junior world champions from France who dropped into obscurity – anyone remember Johan Le Bon or Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier? – so it is wise to be circumspect. Seixas has clearly worked that out, as when asked what his ambitions were for the next five years, he just said: 'I want to follow my path, to grow like every rider.' Like it or not, the eyes of a nation will be on him when, and if, he finally gets to the Tour.
LeMonde
10 hours ago
- Sport
- LeMonde
For the Tour de France, the lack of French winners hasn't hurt business
Every summer brings attacks, high hopes, and ultimately, disappointment or regret. For 40 years, since Bernard Hinault's triumph in 1985, French riders have been unable to claim final victory in the Tour de France. Following the Hinault's fifth overall win, six French cyclists have reached the top 3: Hinault himself (2 nd in 1986), Laurent Fignon (2 nd in 1989), Richard Virenque (3 rd in 1996 and 2 nd in 1997), Jean-Christophe Péraud (2 nd in 2014), Thibaut Pinot (3 rd in 2014) and Romain Bardet (2 nd in 2016, 3 rd in 2017). But none have made it to the top step. Does this lack of French victories in the Tour's final overall standings harm the health of the event? Not at all. For four decades, the Tour's economic model has continued to boost the finances of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). "The Tour de France is a phenomenon in itself, synonymous with happy summers," said Jean Durry, author of La Véridique Histoire des Géants de la Route ("The True Story of the Giants of the Road," 1973). According to the sports historian, the Tour's economy does not depend on strong performances from French riders. "The public is ecstatic if a Frenchman is in contention, but for them, it's a celebration no matter what happens."
The Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Why the dominance of Tadej Pogacar and the ‘big four' will warp the 2025 Tour de France
The weird and wonderful Tour de France circus begins with the Grand Depart in Lille on Saturday, and this year's route is notable for its simplicity: the Tour will be held exclusively in France for the first time in five years, finishing in Paris on 27 July. It ends with a twist on stage 21 after organisers threw in a triple loop of the steep cobbles of Montmartre on the 50th anniversary of the race's first finish on the Champs-Elysees, once a wacky idea but now such an integral part of the canvas. The Tour loves an anniversary and you may notice tributes to Bernard Hinault sprinkled through the route, 40 years after his fifth and final yellow jersey in 1985, a nice touch even if it serves to underline the long, long French wait for another home winner. You can bet Hinault would not have predicted Slovenia would be the dominant nation in the Alps and Pyrenees 40 years on, not least because it didn't yet exist. Tadej Pogacar and his fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic make up two of 'the big four', along with Belgium's Remco Evenepoel and the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, who all start the Tour de France for the second year in a row. Last year's mouthwatering four-way contest was scuppered by a crash in the opening week which killed off Roglic's challenge and harmed Evenepoel's, and much of the talk among them this week has been simply of survival. 'The first week of the Tour is one of the most intense, nervous weeks,' Pogacar said. 'You can quite easily lose the Tour de France in the first 10 days until the first rest day. I don't think my goal should be to aim to gain time for the first week, you just need to take care and not screw up the whole Tour.' It is a star-studded peloton, with daring one-day maestros Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, sprint kings Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay, not to mention the grand tour champions playing support roles in Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates, the latter fresh (or not so fresh) off his triumph at the Giro d'Italia only five weeks ago. There are a few notable names missing such as Richard Carapaz, ruled out with a stomach bug, and those who focused on the Giro like Egan Bernal, Tom Pidcock and Mads Pedersen. But for the most part, the biggest draws in men's cycling will be on the start line in Lille. Yet any hopes of a compelling battle for the yellow jersey might be optimistic. Roglic is one of the greatest stage-racers of his generation, but he is a rung below Pogacar and Vingegaard in the mountains and his Giro exertions will surely have taken a toll, crashing out on stage 16. His goal is simply to finish the race. 'I just want to get to Paris and drink a glass of Champagne there,' he said. Evenepoel has spent the year recovering from his horrifying crash into a postal car's open door while training in December. The double Olympic champion suffered fractures to his ribs, shoulder blade and hand, contusions to his lungs and a dislocation of his right clavicle that left the surrounding ligaments torn. 'There's a part of the shoulder muscle that is not working at all for the moment,' he explained. 'If I were a tennis, a volleyball or basketball player, my career would have been over. Luckily I'm a cyclist.' Evenepoel's brilliance against the clock means he can target grabbing the yellow jersey at the first time trial on stage five, but his hopes of competing for the overall win are remote against the climbing power of multiple champions Pogacar and Vingegaard, and a repeat of last year's podium place would be a successful Tour. 'It's logical as they won together the last five editions, so it means they are top favourites for this year's edition again,' Evenepoel said. 'It would be unfair towards myself, towards the team, to say that I'm not here to compete with them, so I'm just here to try to make it a bit harder. Last year I was the third guy and I think we're here to improve that a bit.' That leaves two of the big four. Vingegaard won the yellow jersey in 2022 and again in 2023, but last year's preparation was badly damaged by a crash and he could not cope with Pogacar in the final week. He arrives fully fit this time around, but his defeat by Pogacar at last month's Criterium du Dauphine – always a bellwether for Tour de France form – showed a clear gap between them. Stage six of the Dauphine was enthralling as Pogacar attacked on the steepest climb to first crack Evenepoel, before surging again to break Vingegaard and crest the mountain alone. The big four will all be in the peloton, but one is not like the others. Vingegaard insists he is here not just to compete with but to beat his rival, having beefed up over the winter. 'Last year I was on a very high level at the Tour de France but I was a lot lighter,' he said. 'I'm heavier now, but it's muscle, and we know that it gives a lot more power as well. I can say I'm on the highest level that I've ever been, and we'll see if it's enough or not.' Yet Pogacar has reached levels few thought possible over the past 18 months. Last season's Giro-Tour-World Championships treble was one of the greatest seasons ever put together on the road, after which Eddy Merckx said Pogacar had already surpassed him, even at only 26 and with so much to come. Only injury or misfortune can slow Pogacar down and unfortunately for his rivals, his season has thus far been immaculate. 'I'm lucky to have had close to the perfect preparation this year,' he said. 'Everything has gone really smoothly, especially coming off a great altitude camp with my teammates.' The warping effect of Pogacar's GC dominance and the big four's likely grip on the podium is that everyone else is scrabbling for stage wins. 'The flat stages are for Jasper [Philipsen], the hills are for me,' said Van der Poel this week, looking to add to his solitary Tour stage victory. Thomas said: 'A stage win would be amazing,' while his Ineos teammate Filippo Ganna is going 'all in' on the stage-five time trial. Ineos are well off the GC pace and so their entire Tour de France – like Lidl-Trek, Jayco-Alula, Israel-Premier Tech, Bahrain Victorious and so many other teams – will live and die by stage victories. The problem is that there are only 21 to go around, and far fewer once Pogacar has collected his inevitable haul. As ever, the road to Paris will be littered with broken bones and busted ambition. It is part of why Tour de France glory tastes so sweet.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
No room for sentiment as Hinault returns to site of world title glory
No room for sentiment as Hinault returns to site of world title glory Bernard Hinault (R) 'gritted his teeth' to beat Gianbattista Baronchelli in the 1980 world championships in Sallanches in 1980 (STAFF) French cycling legend Bernard Hinault is licking his lips at the prospect of current superstars Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel tackling the same route at the 2027 world championships as he faced when he claimed his one and only rainbow jersey in 1980. Advertisement The five-time Tour de France champion, now 70, conquered the course, 20 laps of 13 kilometres, beginning and ending in Sallanches and including the daunting 2.5km climb of Domancy, to finish over a minute ahead of the Italian Gianbattista Baronchelli. "The fact that it is virtually the same route (as in 1980) means we will be able to compare the older generation with the present one," he told AFP. The legs may not be what they were at their peak for the rider nicknamed 'The Badger' but, playing his role as ambassador for the 2027 championships to the full, he rode up the Domancy on Tuesday on an electric bike. It is the first time he has tackled the Domancy, which now also bears his name as the Route Bernard Hinault, since 1980 and he admitted it was not something he would choose to do. Advertisement "Why would you want me to do it again? There's no point," said Hinault with the hint of a smile. "I'm not doing it for my own pleasure." Hinault might at least take some pleasure in the way he is remembered in Sallanches: not just the road name but a five-metre high stele -- featuring him on a bike -- which dominates a roundabout at the entrance to the town, situated at the foot of Mont Blanc in the Haute Savoie region. Since Hinault's victory in 1980, only two other Frenchman have won the world championships, Laurent Brochard in 1997 and Julian Alaphilippe who had back-to-back wins in 2020 and 2021. But he sees no reason why another Frenchman should not repeat his Sallanches success, given the 'one-off' nature of the world championships. Advertisement "You can have a group that gets away from the peloton," said Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France in 1985. "There could be a guy in that bunch, who knows how to ride, who says to himself 'I am going to do the minimum, I am not going to put it all out there for the moment'. That could pay dividends at the end. "But when one sees today, the Pogacars, the Vingegaards, on routes like that, I think it is not too bad for them either. "One thing is for sure, a journeyman will not win it." - 'Nip and tuck' - Hinault, who also won the Giro three times and the Vuelta twice, said the most difficult thing about the route is the repetitiveness. Advertisement "When you race the same route 20 times, that leaves its mark," he said. "If you have an 80km course lying straight ahead of you, you can relax a bit. "However, in this instance, if you find yourself badly-placed on the descent, you have to make extra efforts. "Therefore you must be extra-focused and always be in the first 30 riders, in order to keep an eye on everything that is going on." Hinault said it is an unforgiving terrain. "In 1980, after getting acquainted with the route, and looking at the entry list, one was able to say that it did not suit many of them," said Hinault. Advertisement "At the end of two or three laps, a lot of the riders said 'what am I doing here?'. If you're already 10 minutes off the pace after two laps, you might as well go back to the hotel." As for how he finally shook off Baronchelli, who was cheered on, Hinault recalls, by around "40,000 Italians who had crossed the border", the memories are vivid. "The penultimate lap I had already tried to give him the flick," said Hinault. "I had attacked 50 metres from the summit but he came back. In the final climb, when he changed gear, it sounded like 'crack, crack, crack!' Advertisement "It was nip and tuck between us but I gritted my teeth. And bingo, I attacked! "He was at the end of his tether, he sat back down on the bike and it was finished for him." jac/nip/ng/pi/bsp
