Bernard Hinault
Miguel Indurain
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Bernard Hinault leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Bernard Hinault at #3 and Miguel Indurain at #6.
The case for Bernard Hinault
The Badger was the last great patron of the peloton, a rider who ruled by force of will as much as by his legs. Hinault won 10 Grand Tours, five Tours de France, three Giri d'Italia and two Vueltas a Espana, along with the 1980 World Championship and five Monuments including Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia. He remains the last Frenchman to win the Tour, in 1985, a drought stretching four decades. A fierce competitor with roughly 216 professional victories, he was equally capable in the mountains, in time trials and in the cobbled Classics, and his combative leadership shaped the tactics of his era. His feud and alliance with teammate Greg LeMond at the 1985 and 1986 Tours produced one of the sport's defining rivalries.
The case for Miguel Indurain
Big Mig was the first rider to win five consecutive Tours de France, from 1991 to 1995, an unprecedented run built on time-trial power that few could comprehend. A tall, powerful rider with a famously low resting heart rate, Indurain would demolish his rivals against the clock, then mark them in the mountains without ever needing to attack. He won seven Grand Tours in all, adding the Giro d'Italia in 1992 and 1993 to complete Giro-Tour doubles in both years. In 1994 he set the Hour Record at 53.040 kilometres, and in 1995 he took the World time-trial title before winning Olympic time-trial gold on home-continent roads at Atlanta in 1996. His calm, understated dominance made him a national hero in Spain and ushered in a new era of specialised Grand Tour riding.