Bernard Hinault
Sean Kelly
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 Sean Kelly at #7.
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 Sean Kelly
The greatest Classics rider of his generation and one of the toughest cyclists ever, Kelly won nine Monuments across a career of brutal consistency: two Milan-San Remo, two Paris-Roubaix, two Liege-Bastogne-Liege and three Il Lombardia. He also won the 1988 Vuelta a Espana, took four Tour de France green jerseys, and amassed roughly 193 professional victories. His seven consecutive Paris-Nice titles from 1982 to 1988 remain a record for that prestigious stage race, and when the UCI introduced its world rankings in 1984, Kelly was the inaugural number one, a position he held for years. A sprinter who could also survive the cobbles, climb and endure foul weather, the quiet farmer's son from Carrick-on-Suir won across every kind of one-day terrain the sport could offer.