Bernard Hinault is one of the greatest cyclists of all time. He is a five-time winner of the Tour de France and the only man to have won each of the Grand Tours on more than one occasion. In The Badger, bestselling author William Fotheringham finally gets to the bottom of this fascinating character and explores the reasons why France, the nation that considers itself cyclings home, has found it so hard to produce a successor. Hinault was the last old-school champion a larger-than-life character from a working-class background, capable of winning on all terrains, in major Tours and one-day Classics. Nicknamed The Badger for his combative style, he led a cyclists strike in his first Tour and instigated a legendary punch-up with demonstrators in 1982 while in the middle of a race.
