Bernard Hinault’s scathing criticism of the Tour de France

The Tour de France now not thrills Bernard Hinault. In an interview revealed in West France this Monday, September 5, the previous skilled bike owner didn’t hold his tongue in his pocket when speaking in regards to the Grande Boucle: “Some days, the Tour is not even value it… You are bored. There isn’t a race, 5 escape and we go to search for them ten terminals from the end. Youhou… Aside from trying on the landscapes…“Now, the 67-year-old man has different priorities and relegates the Tour to the background:” I stroll round with my spouse and I watch the tip of sure phases.“

Regardless of his position as ambassador for ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation), which organizes the Tour de France, Bernard Hinault now not makes the Grande Boucle an unmissable occasion each July of the yr. The one exception in 2021 when the beginning of the race was given in Brittany, his place of origin: “In any other case, I do day operations, generally two, with containers. However nothing to do with my position as ambassador for ASO. I select my phases occasionally.“

This isn’t the primary time that Bernard Hinault has expressed his rising disinterest within the Tour de France. Final June, the “Badger” expressed his exasperation with the ambition of French riders, specifically David Gaudu, on the Grande Boucle: “Me, it hurts my coronary heart to listen to a rider say he desires to make a Prime 5 of the Tour. It means he does not need to win. For me, it has no worth. Who will keep in mind it in ten years?“Remarks to which the Groupame-FDJ rider had reacted with frankness:”It isn’t the identical time as when he (Bernard Hinault) was working. Now there may be plenty of historical past of manufacturers, of sponsors. And once you play the final classification for 3 weeks, the media speak about you, the crew, the sponsor. And the upper you might be, the extra folks will speak about you. (…) It makes me neither scorching nor chilly. We all know how Bernard is. It stays the final winner of the Tour. I am pleased to have completed fourth within the Tour. I do not actually care who thinks what.“

NOPE