version of Hinault only won a handful of small French races but already proved to be unapproachable . A year later , a new champion came to pre-eminence and it was the one to whom Merckx symbolically passed on his sceptre in the 1977 Critérium du Dauphiné . The Cannibal helped Hinault deal with the attacks of Lucien van Impe and Thevenet the day after the Badger nearly died in a fall on the Col du Porte . But that , of course , is another story …
- Eddy Merckx is better than you … ( on Flickr by Franco Folini )
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The first battles of " Napoleon " Guimard
At the end of 1975 , Hinault was determined to leave Gitane , where he had made his debut in professional cycling . The reason had a name : Jean Stablinski . Former world champion and winner of the Vuelta a España , Stablinski was like an institution in French Cycling , directing Gitane as he pleased . But he was old fashioned and clearly belonged to the old times . Stablisnki wanted to exploit Hinault in his first seasons but
the Badger didn ’ t particularly enjoy it . Therefore , he made up his mind : Hinault would leave Gitane unless the team changed its direction .
- Eddy in yellow , a common view in the 70s ( on Flickr by Chris Protopapas )
Unsurprisingly , he was out of Gitane by 1978 . The Breton would happen to be directed by another Breton , a man as sibylline and intelligent as Raymond Queneau , as extravagant and histrionic as Lezama Lima , as clever and deep as Man Ray ' s photos . Someone , to put it simply , beyond comparison . “ Ladies and gentlemen , with all of you rise for : Cyrille ‘ Napoléon ’ Guimard .”
Despite only being 29 , a ruined knee and other leg injuries forced Guimard to quit cycling the year before he became Hinault ’ s directeur sportif at Renault . He had been a privileged witness of Merckx ’ s era and was extremely critical of the cyclists who were submissive to the Cannibal ’ s reign . He hadn ’ t been . He kept attacking and attacking , pushing his limits until exhaustion made him desist . His phenomenal combative spirit waned prematurely for Guimard the cyclist , but it kept running through the veins of Guimard le directeur .
Guimard was very crafty and understood cycling perfectly , just as he understood the necessity of initiating a new age that would revolutionise the technical aspect of the sport . In this manner , he created an almost infallible winning machine at Renault , as the team tasted great success through Hinault , Greg Lemond and Laurent Fignon .
And besides all that , Guimard was as grandiloquent as Beethoven ’ s overtures . He didn ’ t only want to win , he wanted to win in style , to leave his mark wherever he went and eventually go down in history as one of the greatest directeurs – a venerable figure , an even better one than the road warrior . Nothing would be the same again once Guimard had made his debut as a directeur , helping a small Belgian cyclist touch the sky .
Freddy Maertens ' fabulous world
Imagine a cyclist who is able to win fifty races per season for two consecutive years . A rider with one of the top five number of victories in the professional peloton . A two-time world champion and winner of thirteen individual stages on the way to Vuelta a España success in 1977 . A natural born sprinter , a one-day-cyclist boasting class and endurance and a perfectionist . A winning machine .
Now imagine another cyclist who alternates widely between successful seasons and long