Bernard Hinault
Roger De Vlaeminck
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Roger De Vlaeminck leads 2 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Bernard Hinault at #3 and Roger De Vlaeminck at #8.
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 Roger De Vlaeminck
Known as Mr. Paris-Roubaix, De Vlaeminck was the supreme Classics specialist of the Merckx era, and his 11 Monument victories rank second only to Merckx himself. He won Paris-Roubaix four times, in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1977, a feat matched only by Tom Boonen, mastering the cobbles like no one else of his generation. He added three Milan-San Remo, a Liege-Bastogne-Liege, two Il Lombardia and a Tour of Flanders, and won the 1975 cyclocross World Championship for good measure, underlining his versatility on rough terrain. With well over 250 career wins, De Vlaeminck was a rider who could sprint, endure and read a Classic perfectly, and his duels with Merckx and Freddy Maertens made Belgium the beating heart of one-day racing in the 1970s.