Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
PRO is PROGRAM GO!
Dispatches
Posts
Comments
Profile
- Radio Freddy
- I spent 20 years of my life working in the bicycle industry, turning wrenches and selling bikes for some of the industry's best shops. I have extensive experience designing and constructing frames in both steel and titanium and have performed thousands of bike fits. I am passionate about bicycles in all forms. The bicycle provides me with physical and mental health and taps me into a social pipeline that allows me to share my passion with others. I ride as often as possible and love the flow of a hard group ride. Check back for musings about all things road cycling and, especially, the Spring Classics. The devil is in the details and I am an expert in the useless minutia that makes up our discipline.
8 comments:
Thanks for the reminder at just how bad ass the Badger was...
Great footage. A hard man, yet at times completely child like (LeMond battles paint him at best as a teenager: Unable to outright say he wanted to win a 6th he played game...it sucks, but the rhetoric does not quite translate into english that well), but certainly one of the greatest racers (if not the greatest outside of Eddy). What a competitor! He won roubaix even though he said it was circus...when was the last time we had a true GT contender make a run at Paris Roubaix? Hinault is such a great character to watch on and off the bike...Maybe more off the bike.
Great Find!
The Badger was, and is, bad!
Unfortunately, LeMond didn't have Lance's luxory of a US team built solely around him and that focused only on Le Tour and, therefore, had to ride first for Fingon and then for Hinault (in 1984 & 1985) before finally beating a sneaky, double-crossing Badger in 1986. Like I said, the Badge is bad!!
...le petite blaireau...one tough s.o.b....once, now & forever...
Maybe not the warmest of characters, but it would be difficult picking a better tough-as-nails rider to idolize. I think, however, in that regard, "The Cannibal" is destined to win over "Le Blaireau." Then again, being second to Merckx isn't exactly an insult.
PRO for sure. I knew very little (OK, nothing) about the man until I started riding in the early 90's but after reading accounts of his badassness, you can't help but admire a true champion like that.
He was one bad mamma jamma! Remember when he was wearing the Yellow Jersey and face planted during a sprint, busting his face up? He insisted on riding over the line! If you looked up Pro in the dictionary you'd see Hinault's picture!
Thanks for posting those videos. That was a great find.
Merckx was great, maybe better on paper, but Hinault is by far the greatest sportsman of the peleton. Merckx had his moments of humanity, but it always seemed like he had this physical superiority that left no question that he would win.
Hinaut won not necessarily because he was physically the greatest, but because his spirit was indomitable.
I don't think he double crossed Lemond anymore than Contador double crossed Levi: even if you have the best team, doesn't mean it can't be beat through hubris.
Even if Hinault could have "given" a tour win to Lemond, it doesn't mean he should have. It would have been poor sportsmanship. I think if Lemond was given his first tour rather than earning it, it would have been his only win.
Post a Comment