The Improbable Punch: Bernard Hinault vs. Paris-Nice Demonstrators in 1984

2024-03-15 05:05:01

It is one of the most improbable pages in the history of cycling. March 12, 1984, demonstrators took to the Paris-Nice route. At the head of the breakaway, Hinault comes off his hinges and goes for the punch. 40 years later, the Badger and the workers of the Ciotat shipyards give us their versions of the facts. We are replaying the match.

The images have gone down in history. March 12, 1984, 5th stage from Paris/Nice.

Between Miramas and La Seyne-sur-Mer, a breakaway is preparing to attack the Col de l’Ange. Under the leadership of Hinault, 18 men broke away from the peloton. Back from injury following a sleepless season, the Breton is thirsty for revenge. He wants to widen the gap when around thirty demonstrators appear on his way.

“David Millar, leader of the general classification, was dropped, says Hinault. We were there to race, and maybe I had the opportunity to win Paris-Nice.”

“When I saw them in the middle, I said to myself, ‘we’re going to get into it… And either they move away, or it’s going to go badly. And it went badly. We’ve been there! “

The result is a big stampede, and a punch that photographers and television cameras will immortalize.

Bernard Hinault’s punch on Paris Nice 1984 • © STAFF, PHILIPPE BOUCHON / AFP

“I didn’t know who they were, continues HInault. When you’re a runner, you’re not always connected to the news. We have the competition, the training. So let there be demonstrations, okay. But at the start, or at the finish. But not during the competition! It’s easy for us to stop, we’re not in a stadium, we’re on the road. That we attack the bike, it’s unbearable”

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Bernard HInault, on the punch at Paris-Nice • ©GLM/TB/FTV

Opposite, it was miners from Gardanne and workers from the shipyards of La Ciotat who invested in the bitumen.

“Our sites were on borrowed time, says Gérard Audri, a former shipyard employee who was there on the day of the fight. We didn’t come there to fight, it was only for the media, we knew that there would be television up there.”

“We invaded the road, there was a funnel, we didn’t know that there was a breakaway. And then Mr. Hinault got off his bike, and he threw a punch. It’s true that “We had arrested him, but he shouldn’t have done this, it’s stupid. Besides, his colleagues didn’t respond.”

The Col de l’Ange half an hour from La Ciotat • © GLM/FTV

“I understand Mr. Hinault’s anger, cycling was his livelihood. But we also defended ours”

At the time, Marc Bastide was a union delegate at the La Ciotat construction sites. “I understand Mr. Hinault’s anger,” he said today. “Running was also his livelihood. But we have to understand our situation.”.

“We wanted to save our naval industry which employed 11 000 people, with subcontracting. Until the 80s, the newspapers said that we were the champions of Europe, we built up to 12 boats per year, oil tankers, gas tankers. And then from 82/83, people started to explain to us that we were too expensive, that we had to build in Asia. So, this caused anger in the world of work. There were actions, and that day, we went up to Col de l’Ange. To alert public opinion. To save our jobs”

“The day following, continues Bastide, colleagues from Seyne-sur-Mer went to the start of the stage to apologize. And we, the Col de l’Ange demonstrators, were summoned to Paris by the general secretary of the CGT. He wasn’t happy.”

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Marc Bastide, former CGT delegate from Chantiers de la Ciotat, on the fight with Bernard Hinault at the Col de l’Ange • ©GLM/TB/FTV

“Yes, we defend jobs, nous a dit Henri Krasuki, but he reminded us that the instructions are not to touch sport or culture. We got some soap. But our action was without ulterior motives, we did not know that there was an escape, it was not once morest Hinault, not once morest the bike. We were at risk of becoming unemployed at that time, even if we became unemployed some time later, in 1988.”

Neutralized for half an hour, the race will eventually restart. Upon arrival at La Seyne-sur-Mer, it was Sean Kelly who took the leader’s jersey and who two days later won the event. Bernard Hinault, 3rd, will never win in Paris-Nice, one of the rare races to be missing from his record.

40 years later, for the five-time winner of the Tour, the history of the Col de l’Ange remains a scar. “I don’t regret anything I did that day, but this story had an impact on me, he emphasizes. And I still blame them.”

“I salute the champion, Marc Bastide answers him. Once once more I understand his anger. We regret having stopped Paris-Nice, but we just wanted to save our jobs, the balance of employees, and their families.”

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