5 iconic French cyclists to never forget

France has always been a country that had a big impact on cycling. It has the most important race of the year, long lasting teams and also riders that will remain in the memories of fans from all over the world. In this article we look at 5 French riders that excelled in the sport, each on their own way. 

To name all the iconic French riders,  I would problably need to fill a book, so for this article, I chose for 5 riders that will always stay in our minds, each for their own reason and in a different period of time. I couldn't include even riders like Jalabert, Durand, Longo, Poulidor, Alaphilippe,... so then you know that the range of riders to pick from is huge. 

Bernhard Hinault

The first name in this list might be a very obvious one. Bernhard Hinault is not only one of the best riders ever in France, but also worldwide. Hinault didn't only won his national tour on 5 different occasions, he also won monumental classics in Liège & Roubaix. He was a very all round rider. He won a mass sprint, mountainstage and time trial in one single Tour de France. Something that has only been done by Eddy Merckx and Wout van Aert. 

Many might not only remember Hinault because of his results but also because of all memorable actions he made. Going from the riders strike he led during the Tour de France of 1978 to pushing a protestor of the Tour de France podium, 30 years later. Younger fans might also remember him from his solo ride in the very snowy edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liège in 1980 that is still shown in many cycling TV-shows more then 40 years later. 

 

Laurent Fignon

He won 3 grand tours and 1 monument but many people remember him the most about the race that didn't won. Fignon entered the final stage of the Tour de France 1989 with the yellow jersey on his shoulders. He only needed to defend his 50 second bonus over Greg LeMond in a short time trial of 24,5 km. Something he was expected to do quite easily. But things turned out differently and LeMond won the race instead. Fignon lost the race by only 8 seconds in the end. The smalles gap ever in the history of the race. This makes this stage still one of the most memorable ones ever in the Tour de France. Fignon unfortunatly died already on the age of 50 but ironically this loss in 1989 makes that he will live forever in the minds of many generations of cycling fans to come.

Pauline Ferrand Prévot

Nowadays we see the successes of Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock in multiple disciplines but the actual pioneer in modern cycling is Pauline Ferrand Prévot. We saw in the past many riders who combined road racing with track racing or cyclocross but Pauline Ferrand Prévot is active in 3 disciplines on a regular base and on the highest level. She became worldchampion in road racing, cyclocrosss and mountainbiking. After the retirement of Jeannie Longo, France didn't have many dominant female riders in the sport anymore but Ferrand-Prévot filled the gap in 3 disciplines and inspired many young girls to try different disciplines in cycling. 

 

Sylvain Chavanel

He might not be the French rider with the biggest palmares but Chavanel might be a memorable rider for many who grew up in the begin of this Century. In times that TV coverage of the Tour de France expanded by many hours, it was him who often filled your screen for many hours. Sylvain Chavanel was every edition in the attack, hunting for stage wins or the yellow jersey. Chavanel wasn't only present during those 3 warm weeks in his home country but also already during bitter cold cobble classics in the end of February. His early attack in the Tour of Flanders 2011 got rewarded by a podium spot. Let's be honest who wasn't happy to see this true 'baroudeur' on the podium?

 

 

Thomas Voeckler

He was a rider that wasn't a climber, a sprinter, a classic rider or a time trialist but still one of the biggest stars of his generation. The world to got know him in 2004 when he took the yellow jersey after an early breakaway made it to the finish in the 5th stage. Many thought that he would lose his 9 minute bonus on the GC riders already after the first mountain stage, but Voeckler suprised the whole peloton and kept his jersey for a very long time till he eventually lost it in stage 15. 

7 years later, Voeckler took the yellow jersey again on a similar way. It made many joke about that history could repeat itself without seriously considering it to happen. This time he even entered the last mountainstage with the yellow jersey still around his shoulders. An early attack of Alberto Contador made an end to his yellow dream but Voeckler finished this Tour de France on the 4th place.

Two strong rides that problably inspired the then 19 years old Julian Alaphilippe to do the same 8 years later....