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Hinault backs 'complete rider' Pogacar for glory
The Straits Times
|July 03, 2025
With the Tour de France set to get under way in Lille on July 5, Bernard Hinault has thrown his voice firmly behind Tadej Pogacar, saying the Slovenian can go on to break the French cycling legend's record for Tour victories.
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PARIS - With the Tour de France set to get under way in Lille on July 5, Bernard Hinault has thrown his voice firmly behind Tadej Pogacar, saying the Slovenian can go on to break the French cycling legend's record for Tour victories.
Hinault is one of four riders, along with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain, to have won the Tour five times but he believes Pogacar can close on that group by adding to his victories in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
"For me, yes, he is the favourite, unless he has a major breakdown but I don't believe that at all," the 70-year-old told AFP.
"When you see what he was able to do in the Dauphine, he was in control, he did what he wanted, when he wanted.
This story is from the July 03, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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