The scene is not so insignificant. It is even significant when it is organized by the photographer of L'Équipe Michel Deschamps, who used to take a suitcase of accessories with him on the Tour de France. "I had my mother-in-law knit the first stitches of a yellow jersey...", said our photographer, who died in September 2021. On July 17, 1986, Bernard Hinault, 31 years old, and Greg LeMond, 25 years old, mixed their stitches, one forwards, one backwards, as a metaphor for their relationship in the race... For the second year, the Badger and his younger brother are together under the jersey of the La Vie Claire team, set up in early 1984 by Bernard Tapie. The businessman brought dollars into the cycling ecosystem by recruiting LeMond. The pact: to help the legend Hinault win his fifth Tour in 1985, before reversing the roles the following year. But it is not easy to transform a five-time winner of the Grand Boucle into the servant of an ambitious American...
The relationship between the two riders was on the verge of a collision when Hinault took the yellow jersey in the first Pyrenean stage, in Pau. Forty-eight hours later, the hypothesis of premeditated betrayal temporarily ruled out, the atmosphere was light between the two men. "Hinault did not stop acting like a clown," Michel Deschamps said. But the Breton had trouble keeping his promise... He gave LeMond cold sweats three days later in the Alps by attacking alone in the stage between Gap and the Col du Granon despite a pain behind his left knee. The backlash was violent. Hinault was caught, then distanced. The pact was respected. At the top of the Granon, LeMond became the first American to take the yellow jersey. Relegated to third place, Hinault had, willingly or not, accomplished his mission of passing the baton and had just spent the last day in yellow of his career. The next day, in Alpe d'Huez, in a very media-friendly staging orchestrated by Bernard Tapie, the two "enemy brothers" crossed the finish line as winners, hand in hand.
Eddy Pizzardini
