Hinault tips Armstrong for
six Tour victories
Francois Thomazeau
Unless an earthquake stops the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong will win cycling's biggest race for the fourth time on Sunday and five-times winner Bernard Hinault believes the American can become the first rider to make it six.
"There is no curse that prevents a rider to win six," said Frenchman Hinault, one of only four riders to have won the Tour five times with compatriot Jacques Anquetil, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spaniard Miguel Indurain.
"It all depends on him, on whether he keeps the motivation to do it. Myself, I could have ridden two more Tours. But my head was not into it anymore," he said.
For the time being, the American is about to join an exclusive club of four-times winners, which comprises the same gang of four, and has already earned a nickname from Hinault.
"People called me the badger because of my bad temper, and Merckx was called the cannibal because he never had enough victories," he said.
"I would call Armstrong the American Eagle, because he flies high and sometimes dives on his prey when he needs to," he said.
Hinault, who is now a member of the Tour staff, insisted it was impossible to compare different periods in the history of cycling but dismissed the idea that Armstrong's domination came from the fact that he had no rivals.
"It's not his fault. He's just too good for the rest and they're not up to it," he said.
For Hinault, the secret to Tour success is pleasure. And he said Armstrong's near-fatal cancer in 1996 was the key to his four victories.
NO FUTURE
"When you have been so close to dying, you have that will to enjoy life. That's Arsmtrong's secret.
"The secret is the pleasure, the will to ride and to win, to dominate others. It's a game," he said.
And Hinault admitted all the members of the G5 of four-times Tour champions had dictated their own rules to the game.
"Good old Eddy never had enough and wanted to win every stage," he said.
"Anquetil was winning the Tour day by day, second by second.
"I was in between. I could be aggressive but I knew how to be patient," he said.
And he even praised Indurain, whom he had criticised in his glory days for not being aggressive enough.
"I saw him get mad one day in the Pyrenees. And he was bad, awful bad," he said.
Armstrong's strength, he said, was that he never had doubts.
"When he lost the time trial to (Colombian Santiago) Botero, we all had some doubts. Not him.
"As soon as he got to the mountains, he was alone to play," he said.
The "badger" said he did not see any rider who would be capable of threatening Armstrong in the near future.
"(German) Jan Ullrich was a terrible waste. I really thought he could win six Tours when he won the first (in 1997).
"Everybody is talking about (Briton David) Millar but he has not proved anything yet. He should be in the Tour's top five already," Hinault said.
"There will be someone after Armstrong, that's for sure, but I can't see him yet," he said.
