Major honours
Under manager Cyrille Guimard's eight-season stewardship, this team produced French cycling's last golden age. Launched in 1978 with backing from Gitane and Renault, it made a 23-year-old Bernard Hinault a Tour winner in his debut season, and Hinault went on to win four Tours (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982), two Giros (1980, 1982) and two Vueltas (1978, 1983) in this jersey. A snowbound Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the world title in 1980, and Paris-Roubaix in 1981, also belong to this era. When Hinault left in 1983, 22-year-old Laurent Fignon immediately won the Tour and defended it the following year, and in 1985 Marc Madiot took Paris-Roubaix. Greg LeMond also began his professional career with this team in 1981. Guimard is considered one of the first managers to systematically apply training science and aerodynamic equipment.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
In the late 1970s, Joop Zoetemelk's TI-Raleigh was Hinault's only real rival. The real conflict broke out in 1984, when Hinault, having moved to La Vie Claire, faced his old protege Fignon at the Tour, and Fignon beat his former mentor's team by more than ten minutes.