The China Mail - Hinault backs 'complete rider' Pogacar for Tour de France glory

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," Hinault 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.

"Pogacar, when he sees that he has the chance to pull the trigger he pulls the trigger -- a bit like Eddy (Merckx).

"When he attacks, as he did at the world championships, with 100 kilometres to go, everyone says: 'what a stupid thing to do'. At the end, he won. And that's fabulous to see."

The Team UAE rider started the season by taking his 'home' UAE Tour, then won four one-day races, including Liege-Bastogne-Liege, finishing on the podium in three others.

He ended his Tour preparation with a brilliantly controlled performance in the eight-day Criterium du Dauphine when he beat Jonas Vingegaard -- his main rival for the Tour and himself looking for a third title -- by 59 seconds.

The 26-year-old Slovenian goes into this year's Tour, his sixth, with an extraordinary record in his previous five, having clocked two second-places behind Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023 to go with his three victories.

Hinault, 70, sees him as a genuine challenger for the record of Tour wins.

"I think that Pogacar will really leave his mark on cycling for a few years to come," says Hinault.

"He is perhaps the only one who will be able to beat the record.

"He is only 26 years old. When you look at the list of victories he's already won, he's well on schedule.

"He's already won three Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia, the world championship title, the classics... He's a complete rider."

Hinault -- known as 'The Badger' during his career -- was less hopeful that this year's race might yield the first French winner since his last victory 40 years ago in 1985.

"We're a bit sad that we haven't had a Frenchman win the Tour," he said.

"We're still a cycling country, we still have some of the best races in the world, and then all of a sudden, nothing.

"That's life, that's the way it is. We don't have super champions with extraordinary physical abilities, like some nations.

"When you look at it, everyone else would have to fail (for a Frenchman to win)."

O.Tse--ThChM