The China Mail - No room for sentiment as Hinault returns to site of world title glory

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 72.000368
ALL 87.274775
AMD 390.940403
ANG 1.80229
AOA 912.000367
ARS 1137.970104
AUD 1.565349
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.720686
BBD 2.017877
BDT 121.428069
BGN 1.721593
BHD 0.376901
BIF 2930
BMD 1
BND 1.312071
BOB 6.906563
BRL 5.808204
BSD 0.999437
BTN 85.314611
BWP 13.77569
BYN 3.270808
BYR 19600
BZD 2.007496
CAD 1.384165
CDF 2877.000362
CHF 0.81849
CLF 0.025203
CLP 967.160396
CNY 7.30391
CNH 7.30369
COP 4310
CRC 502.269848
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 97.403894
CZK 22.038604
DJF 177.720393
DKK 6.56557
DOP 60.503884
DZD 132.56604
EGP 51.126904
ERN 15
ETB 133.023649
EUR 0.879325
FJD 2.283704
FKP 0.754396
GBP 0.753835
GEL 2.740391
GGP 0.754396
GHS 15.56039
GIP 0.754396
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8655.503848
GTQ 7.698128
GYD 209.656701
HKD 7.763675
HNL 25.908819
HRK 6.612104
HTG 130.419482
HUF 359.10504
IDR 16862.9
ILS 3.68639
IMP 0.754396
INR 85.377504
IQD 1310
IRR 42125.000352
ISK 127.590386
JEP 0.754396
JMD 157.965583
JOD 0.709304
JPY 142.384504
KES 129.503801
KGS 87.233504
KHR 4015.00035
KMF 433.503794
KPW 900.005534
KRW 1418.390383
KWD 0.30663
KYD 0.832893
KZT 523.173564
LAK 21630.000349
LBP 89600.000349
LKR 298.915224
LRD 199.975039
LSL 18.856894
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.470381
MAD 9.275039
MDL 17.289555
MGA 4552.892736
MKD 54.091003
MMK 2099.41494
MNT 3537.11356
MOP 7.990393
MRU 39.435529
MUR 45.090378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1736.000345
MXN 19.71941
MYR 4.407504
MZN 63.905039
NAD 18.856894
NGN 1604.703725
NIO 36.775056
NOK 10.47246
NPR 136.503202
NZD 1.67405
OMR 0.384998
PAB 0.999437
PEN 3.763039
PGK 4.133235
PHP 56.712504
PKR 280.603701
PLN 3.762405
PYG 7999.894426
QAR 3.640604
RON 4.378104
RSD 103.137317
RUB 82.174309
RWF 1415
SAR 3.752237
SBD 8.368347
SCR 14.241693
SDG 600.503676
SEK 9.62027
SGD 1.310745
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.775038
SLL 20969.483762
SOS 571.503662
SRD 37.15037
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.745073
SYP 13002.282567
SZL 18.820369
THB 33.347038
TJS 10.733754
TMT 3.5
TND 2.988038
TOP 2.342104
TRY 38.020804
TTD 6.781391
TWD 32.524038
TZS 2687.503631
UAH 41.417687
UGX 3663.55798
UYU 41.913007
UZS 12986.521678
VES 80.85863
VND 25870
VUV 122.04998
WST 2.787364
XAF 577.111964
XAG 0.03066
XAU 0.000301
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.717698
XOF 575.000332
XPF 102.775037
YER 245.250363
ZAR 18.821904
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.458439
ZWL 321.999592
  • JRI

    0.1600

    12.4

    +1.29%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    21.96

    +0.18%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.47

    +0.83%

  • NGG

    0.6300

    72.11

    +0.87%

  • GSK

    0.5600

    35.93

    +1.56%

  • RBGPF

    63.5900

    63.59

    +100%

  • SCS

    0.0500

    9.76

    +0.51%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1400

    9.36

    -1.5%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    21.82

    +0.18%

  • RIO

    1.0100

    58.17

    +1.74%

  • AZN

    0.5400

    67.59

    +0.8%

  • RELX

    1.0000

    52.2

    +1.92%

  • BCE

    0.4200

    22.04

    +1.91%

  • BTI

    0.5400

    42.37

    +1.27%

  • VOD

    0.1400

    9.31

    +1.5%

  • BP

    0.6600

    28.32

    +2.33%

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 / Photo: © AFP/File

No room for sentiment as Hinault returns to site of world title glory

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.

Text size:

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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!'

"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."

Z.Huang--ThChM