Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Wednesday November 13, 2024 at 11:34 a.m.
At the dawn of his 70th birthday, Bernard Hinault, the last French winner, in 1985, of the Grande Boucle, confides in his “busy life, which is not monotonous”.
While, during the 2025 Tour de France, it will be 40 years since a Frenchman won the Grande Boucle, Bernard Hinault, the last French winner, is preparing to celebrate his 70th birthday on Thursday, November 14. A birthday already celebrated at home, in Brittany, last weekend in Bruz (Ille-et-Vilaine), alongside his family and friends and big names in Cycling like David Lappart, president of the International Cycling Union, who paid a vibrant tribute to the “Badger”, but also other winners of the Tour, Bernard Thévenet, in 1975 and 1977, and the Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk, who won in 1980.
“Touched” by the next Tour
Crowned five times on the Grande Boucle (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and therefore 1985), Hinault, also winner three times of the Tour of Italy (1980, 1982 and 1985) and twice of that of Spain (1978 and 1983), as well as a world champion title in 1980, still follows the world of cycling. And he recently said he was “touched” by the fact that the next Tour will pass through his two Breton villages, with an 11th stage which will pass through Yffiniac, his town of birth, and Calorguen, where he lives.
“I’m pretty busy.”
In an interview with Le Figaro, he also spoke about his “busy” life. “I'm not yet in the retirement home, that's good… I have my wife, my children, my grandchildren around me, what more could I have than my family and friends with who I get along really well. I have a dream life. I'm lucky to have good health and that plays a big part, admits Bernard Hinault. I'm lucky to be able to choose. what I want to do when we have no physical problems. and that we can lend a hand for cancer research or for humanitarian operations, we must do it. It's a way of giving back what nature has given me. I have a full life. , which is not monotonous, far from it. It's royal.”
