Bernard Hinault is one of the greatest cyclists of all time. He’s a five-time winner of the Tour de France and the only man to have won each of the Grand Trips on several occasion. Three years on from his pension, he remains the final Frenchman to earn the Tour de France. His success in 1985 marks the turning point when the nation who had dominated the first eight decades of the race that they had developed suddenly found these were no longer able to win it.

Hinault may be the last ‘old-school’ approximately Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of France Cycling champion: a larger-than-life character from a working-class background, capable of winning on all terrains, in main Travels and one-day Classics. Nicknamed the ‘Badger’ for his combative style, he led a cyclists’ hit in his initial Tour and instigated a renowned punch-up with demonstrators in 1982 while in the middle of a race. Hinault’s fights with team-mates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond provide a number of the greatest moments in Tour background.

In Bernard Hinault as well as the Fall and Rise of French Cycling, number one bestselling author William Fotheringham finally gets to the bottom of this fascinating personality and explores why the nation that considers itself cycling’s house has found it so difficult to produce another champion.