Meet Bernard Hinault, a Legendary Cyclist of the Tour De France!

Winning the Tour de France is a feather in the cap for any rider! There are quite a few legends in the cycling arena to have achieved this feat not once, but several times in their illustrious careers. And one such name that has always inspired awe and respect is Bernard Hinault!

Born in France in 1954, Bernard Hinault was already into professional cycling at the tender age of 20 (1974)! With Cyrille Guimard as his trusted counselor, Bernard could do no wrong! To his credit, he kept away from major cycling events until he gained enough experience. Lucien van Impe (his partner) triumphed in the Tour de France in 1976.

Two years later, Hinault entered the competitive arena. There was no looking back after that! Just take a look at his career graph in the Tour de France events-

(1) 1978-Joop Zoetemelk of Netherlands had his yellow jersey taken away by Hinault, who was 3 minutes and 56 seconds faster than him!

(2) 1979-Joop Zoetemelk was vanquished yet again, but by a larger time margin of 13 minutes and 7 seconds.

(3) 1980-A painful knee injury forced him out of the race, thus affording his rival an easy victory.

(4) 1981-Four stages into the race, triumph was Hinault's once again! He proudly flaunted his yellow jersey for the next 18 days!

(5) 1982-This had all the trappings of a fairy tale! A magnificent start, three wins in the later stages, and a yellow jersey once again! The jersey adorned his chest for 12 days this time round!

(6) He was done out of another victory when his knee problem resurfaced in 1983. Though he recouped and returned in 1984, he came in second, just 10 minutes behind the winner, Laurent Fignon.

(7) 1985-He raced to the finish line, despite a crash and a black eye! This was his final victory.

(8) 1986-Victory was his for the asking, seeing that Bernard crossed 16 stages successfully and won stages 18 and 20. But, he wanted his teammate Greg LeMond to win this time, based on an earlier promise made to him.

(9) His total wins include five victories in the Tour de France (only 4 other cyclists have managed to achieve this feat), 13 stage victories resulting from individual time trials, and winner of 28 stages in one of the greatest cycling events in the world!

(10) Never having gone below the second place even during his defeats, Hinault retired from public life after 1986. His time was spent in organizing future teams for the Tour de France races.

It is not his victories that his fans remember; rather, they prefer to keep in mind his hard work and perseverance that took him to such heights. His forthrightness did inspire fear in his competitors, but one and all agreed that if his knee injuries had not come in the way, Bernard Hinault would probably have gone on to accumulate more trophies, maybe even going up to a total of eight!