Читать книгу Etape. The untold stories of the Tour de France’s defining stages онлайн
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‘When you’re in such good form, you just want to take advantage of it,’ Hinault adds. ‘That day, I crashed or punctured seven times in total. But it was as though it was just too easy for me. And I had luck: each time I punctured, I had a team-mate there, ready to give me his wheel, so I never really lost much time.’
At the finish in Roubaix, Hinault arrived with the leaders, including specialists such as Moser, De Vlaeminck and Kuiper. And he won. ‘It was the last time I rode,’ Hinault says with satisfaction.1 ‘I would have gone back and won another Roubaix if Félix Lévitan had let me ride the Tour of America. But he didn’t, and I said, “In that case, I’m not doing Roubaix any more.” If he’d said I could have gone to the Tour of America, I would have won Roubaix again to thank him.’
So he would not just have ridden Paris–Roubaix, he would have won. At the time Hinault was adamant that he would never again ride the cobbles: ‘I have no intention of riding Paris–Roubaix, or the Tour of Flanders, either this year or in the future. Roads like that have nothing to do with classic racing.’