Topic : Bernard Hinault

Here's how you can replay excerpts from Slaying the Badger to enjoy coverage of the entire 1986 Tour de France.

Enjoy the entire first chapter from Richard Moore's book Slaying the Badger.

VeloPress is not affiliated with the ESPN documentary film that is based on Richard Moore's book Slaying the Badger, but here's what we know about it.

Herrara, the little bird, is set free. Now he is flying up l’Alpe d’Huez, while Hinault labors, and a little lower down the mountain, Laurent Fignon, in the tricolore of French champion, sets off in pursuit.

“It’s bollocks, this race. You’re working like an animal, you don’t have time to piss, you wet your pants; you’re riding in mud like this, you’re slipping. It’s a piece of shit. . . .”

Hinault keeps a wary eye on his former protégé, Laurent Fignon, as the two go head-to-head in the 1984 Tour.

We hope you have enjoyed our coverage of the 1986 Tour de France, which we feel will go down in history as the greatest ever Tour.

Shimano ad for Greg LeMond, 1986 Velo-news

Excerpt from 1986 Velo-News about Greg LeMond's win at the 1986 Tour de France

Greg LeMond appears on the cover of Velo-news magazine after winning the 1986 Tour de France!

Ad from 1986 Velo-news magazine showing readers where to buy Velo-news books

After Bernard Hinault was weighed so he could be given his weight in coffee by cycling trade sponsor Cafe de Colombia, it was on to stage 22, a 194km ceremonial march from Clermont- Ferrand to Nevers.

1986 ad that ran in Velo-News magazine during the Tour de France

Today's stage 21 was a hilly one that finished atop the Puy de Dôme—the spectacular dome-shaped volcanic plug in the Massif Central. The Puy de Dôme is a climb of rich symbolism and incident, where Hinault had fancied claiming his first yellow jersey in 1978, where Eddy Merckx had been punched in the kidneys three years earlier. This year, the mountain's role is to perhaps allow a challenger to make one last, desperate bid for the yellow jersey.

An ad from a 1986 issue of Velo-news

Today’s stage 20 looked to be a critical one in the Tour de France, a 58km individual time trial in Saint-Etienne. This stage presented the last time trial of the Tour, one which Hinault said would seal the victory of the strongest rider.

An ad from a 1986 issue of Velo-news

Is Greg LeMond in danger at the 1986 Tour de France?

An ad from a 1986 issue of Velo-news

Greg LeMond's first day in the yellow jersey was not an easy one. Stage 18 almost immediately ascended the Col du Lautaret then the Col du Galibier en route to a summit finish on Alpe d'Huez.

Greg LeMond dropped an injured Bernard Hinault on today's mountain stage to become the first rider from the United States to wear the yellow jersey of the leader of the Tour de France.

On today's stage 16, the peloton faced strong winds on the roads from Nimes to Gap, winds that forced the riders into echelons.

Team 7-Eleven's sprinter Davis Phinney has dropped out of the Tour after crashing heavily on today's Stage 15. This leaves the team relying on Phinney's usual lead-out man Ron Kiefel to contest the sprints. Fortunately, Kiefel has shown that he has the legs for the Tour, narrowly missing a stage win to Peeters on stage 7.

Battered by wind and torrid heat, much of this stage from Carcassonne to Nimes was spent riding in echelons.

After two dramatic days in the Pyrenees that saw a big shake up in the overall standings, today's stage traveled 154 km across the south of France into the foothills of the Alps.

Did Hinault give LeMond permission to attack? “I’m not his father,” replied Hinault. “He can do what he likes. What’s important is to keep the jersey in the team.”

Team 7-Eleven's Alexi Grewal, the winner of the 1984 Olympic road race, described Hinault’s solo attack on this second day in the Pyrenees as “undoubtedly the most stupid move of the race so far.

Greg LeMond won his second Tour de France stage today after his La Vie Claire teammate and race leader Bernard Hinault cracked spectacularly on the climbs leading to the finish in Superbagneres. LeMond's win is the first ever mountain stage win for an American in the Tour de France.

Today's stage 12 to Pau saw Bernard Hinault launch a sneak attack on the overall favorites.

During the early miles of Stage 12 from Bayonne to Pau, the peloton rode calmly, saving their legs for the first major climb of the Tour, the first-category Col de Marie-Blanque, until something unexpected happened.

Thinking that this longest of Tour stages from Poitiers to Bordeaux was to be a hot, lazy, flat slog, many Tour journalists went 130km ahead to take advantage of a sumptuous Bastille Day buffet put out free by the rich brandy burghers of the French region of Cognac.

According to riders interviewed after today's Stage 10 from Nantes to Futuroscope, the stench was overpowering: a rotten, putrid smell, so bad that several riders looked around, their faces screwing up as though they were sucking on lemons. The peloton watched Greg LeMond, fourth in line, being led back to the pack by a string of his La Vie Claire teammates.

Was it his failure to mount disk wheels, the accumulated fatigue from riding 1,000km at the front of the bunch, or simply "un jour sans," as a French report has suggested?

American hopeful Greg LeMond is disheartened. When asked about the significance of losing 44 seconds to Hinault, LeMond acknowledges that Hinault expected this stage to determine La Vie Claire's team captain.

Hinault’s attack on the road to Cherbourg only served to make Greg LeMond even more uncertain and edgy. They have barely left the blocks, but already the pledge that Hinault made to help the American seems as believable as Santa Claus.

Finally a massive field sprint after days of breakaways!

"I should have been in my 12," commented a frustrated Ron Kiefel after finishing second in Stage 7 to multiple classics winner Ludo Peeters.

Stage 6 to Cherbourg witnessed a surprise attack by a GC favorite. En route to Brittany, Bernard Hinault's stomping grounds, the Badger attacked the peloton.

After a 100km breakaway in the company of Frenchman Joel Pelier, Dutchman Johan Van der Velde won the sprint at this seaside resort and as a plus took the yellow jersey.

"La Tournée des Accidents" or "The Tour of Crashes" headlined one regional newspaper after this long but flat transitional stage.

An American has won a Tour de France road stage!

Saturday afternoon’s stage is a 56-km team time trial, an event La Vie Claire dominated in 1985, winning by over a minute. But now, in 1986 on the road from Meudon to Saint Quentin, something very, very odd happened.

"Next year it's you who will win the Tour, and I'll be there to give you a hand." -- Bernard Hinault to Greg LeMond

A week out from the start of the 1986 Tour de France, five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, the Badger, has responded to rumors swirling in the peloton about his upcoming retirement and who -- if anyone -- might fill his spot on the La Vie Claire team.

Felix Magowan of Velo-news offers this preview of the 1986 Tour de France

American Greg LeMond, captain of the La Vie Claire team, placed fourth in the 69th Giro d'Italia, behind winner Robert Visentini, Giuseppe Saronni, and Francesco Moser.

The confidence Hampsten gained in winning the 20th stage of the 1985 Giro laid the groundwork for his epic ride up the Gavia.