The definitive biography of France's greatest cyclist by the number one bestselling author of Merckx: Half Man, Half Bike.
     Bernard Hinault is one of the greatest cyclists of all time. He is a five-time winner of the Tour de France and the only man to have won each of the Grand Tours on more than one occasion. Three decades on from his retirement, he remains the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France. His victory in 1985 marks the turning point when the nation who had dominated the first eight decades of the race they had invented suddenly found they were no longer able to win it.
     Hinault is the last 'old-school' champion: a larger-than-life character from a working-class background, capable of winning on all terrains, in major Tours and one-day Classics. Nicknamed the 'Badger' for his combative style, he led a cyclists' strike in his first Tour and instigated a legendary punch-up with demonstrators in 1982 while in the middle of a race. Hinault's battles with team-mates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond provide some of the greatest moments in Tour history. 
     In Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling, number one bestselling author William Fotheringham finally gets to the bottom of this fascinating character and explores the reasons why the nation that considers itself cycling's home has found it so hard to produce another champion.

William Fotheringham's profile page

WILLIAM FOTHERINGHAM writes for the Guardian and Observer on cycling and rugby. A racing cyclist and launch editor of Procycling and Cycle Sport magazines, he has reported on over twenty Tours de France. He is the critically lauded author of Fallen Angel, Roule Britannia, and Put Me Back on My Bike, which Vélo magazine called 'The best cycling biography ever written and the Sunday Times number one bestseller, Merckx: Half Man, Half Bike.