La Vie Claire

La Vie Claire was a professional road bicycle racing team named after its chief sponsor La Vie Claire, a chain of health food stores.

History
The La Vie Claire team was created in 1984 by Bernard Tapie and directed by Paul Köchli. The team included five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, and three-time winner, Greg LeMond, as well as Andrew Hampsten and the Canadian Steve Bauer. With Hinault winning the Tour in 1985, and LeMond winning in 1986, plus winning the team trophy both years, La Vie Claire cemented their place in cycling team history. The team formed after Bernard Hinault had a dispute with his former directeur sportif Cyrille Guimard of Renault–Elf–Gitane with whom Hinault had won four editions of the Tour de France. After Hinault's teammate Laurent Fignon won the 1983 Tour de France while Hinault was injured, Fignon became the designated leader of the team. Hinault formed the La Vie Claire team with Tapie and Köchli and steadily built up his form. During the 1984 Tour de France, Renault–Elf–Gitane dominated the race with 8 stage wins including the Team time trial as well as wearing the yellow jersey from the 5th stage onward with Vincent Barteau and Laurent Fignon. Fignon won the Tour by over ten minutes from Hinault. In addition with World Champion Greg LeMond the Renault team also finished third overall in that Tour and LeMond won the Young rider's jersey. After this dominance by the Renault–Elf–Gitane team, Tapie and Hinault approached Greg LeMond after the 1984 Tour with a one-million dollar contract offer – the first in cycling history – to leave Renault–Elf–Gitane and join Hinault at La Vie Claire. LeMond accepted and forever changed the salary structure in bicycle racing. With Hinault and LeMond the team won the 1985 and the 1986 Tour de France. At the end of 1986, Hinault retired and in the spring of 1987 LeMond was injured in a hunting accident. Hampsten who had finished fourth in the 1986 Tour de France and as best young rider left the team at the end of 1986. Jean-François Bernard was seen by some as a successor to Hinault in stage races and became the leader of the team. Bernard led the general classification during the 1987 Tour de France and finished third overall, and led the general classification during the 1988 Giro d'Italia but then never regained the form to perform in the grand tours for the team. The team itself was undergoing further changes – LeMond and Bauer left the team at the end of 1987 and Köchli and Tapie stopped directing the team in 1988 and 1989. During the latter years of the team Laurent Jalabert and Tony Rominger were team leaders and earned success for the team.

Jersey
The La Vie Claire colors (red, yellow, blue and gray) were based on the artwork of Piet Mondrian, giving them a unique appearance in the peloton during the 80s Tours de France. The La Vie Claire jersey, originally designed by Benetton, went through at least five major revisions between 1984 and 1988 as the team partnered different sponsors (Radar, Wonder, Toshiba, LOOK (and Red Zinger and Celestial Seasonings when racing on American soil)). The design (sleeves: yellow and grey; chest: pattern of rectangles in different sizes and colors) is considered one of the most memorable jersey designs in cycling. Manufactured by Santini of Italy, it is still very popular with cycling fans, topping a cyclingnews.com poll in 2018. From 1987, Toshiba became the main sponsor of the team and from 1988 onwards La Vie Claire withdrew their sponsorship. The jersey was redesigned in 1990. The Toshiba team continued until the end of the 1991 season.

Technology
Also strongly associated with La Vie Claire was the French company LOOK, which made the first clipless pedals, and which was owned by Tapie at that time. La Vie Claire was among the first to use carbon fiber frames in the Tour de France. The team switched in 1986 from their previous supplier, Hinault, to carbon fiber frames and forks by TVT. In 1989 the team rode a carbon-fiber frame/fork manufactured by LOOK and fitted with titanium components. In the same year, the team began to use heart rate monitors in training and racing, a technology that the traditional training culture in cycling at first resisted.

Intra-team rivalry
In the 1985 Tour de France, Hinault was considered the leader of the team, which would work for him to win the Tour for a record-tying fifth time. But after dominating the first two-thirds of the race, on stage 14 Hinault crashed in Saint-Étienne and broke his nose. Though he continued, his injury and subsequent bronchitis caused him to be weakened thereafter. On stage 17 LeMond and a rival rider, Stephen Roche, were far ahead of the pack when the team boss Bernard Tapie and coach Paul Köchli asked him to slow down, saying that Hinault was 45 seconds behind. LeMond refrained from attacking and waited at the stage's finish where he realized he'd been misled; Hinault was in fact more than three minutes behind. Hinault went on to win that year's Tour by 1 minute 42 seconds; in return for his assistance, LeMond was assured by Hinault that he would support LeMond the following year.

In the following year's Tour, Hinault surprised LeMond by riding an aggressive race, going on individual attacks, which he insisted was to deter and demoralize their mutual rivals. He claimed his tactics were to wear down LeMond's (and his) opponents and that he knew that LeMond would win because of time losses earlier in the race. However, LeMond saw this as a betrayal and accused Hinault of reneging on his promise. In LeMond's words, "He totally tried screwing me. But I don't blame him." As the 1986 Tour wore on, loyalties among LeMond and Hinault's teammates split along national lines, with the Americans and British supporting LeMond and the French and Belgians backing Hinault. Andrew Hampsten said of the 1986 Tour: "It was rotten being on the team... Steve Bauer and I had to chase down Hinault on the stage into Saint-Étienne. That really sucked." The competition, abandoned promises, and high stakes in the LeMond-Hinault controversy makes it one of the most public and bitter rivalries between teammates in cycling history. Their story was chronicled in the book Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore.

Major wins

 * 1984
 * Overall Vuelta Ciclista a la Communidad Valenciana, Bruno Cornillet
 * Stage 1, Bruno Cornillet
 * Stage 5, Bernard Hinault
 * Stage 3 Tour de Romandie, Bernard Vallet
 * Prologue Tour de France, Bernard Hinault
 * Callac criterium, Bernard Hinault
 * Lamballe criterium, Bernard Hinault
 * 's-Heerenhoek criterium, Bernard Hinault
 * Clásica San Sebastián, Niki Rüttimann
 * Tour de l'Avenir
 * Stages 4 & 5, Benno Wiss
 * Stage 12, Marc Gomez
 * Grand Prix des Nations, Bernard Hinault
 * Trofeo Baracchi, Bernard Hinault
 * Giro del Piemonte, Christian Jourdan
 * Giro di Lombardia, Bernard Hinault


 * 1985
 * Aix-en-Provence, Steve Bauer
 * Stage 2 Critérium International, Charly Berard
 * Overall Giro d'Italia, Bernard Hinault
 * Stage 12, Bernard Hinault
 * Tour de Suisse
 * Stage 1, Guido Winterberg
 * Stage 2, Charly Berard
 * Stage 5a, Jean-François Bernard
 * Overall Tour de France, Bernard Hinault
 * Combination classification, Greg LeMond
 * Prologue & Stage 8, Bernard Hinault
 * Stage 3 TTT
 * Stage 21, Greg LeMond
 * Post Danmark Rundt
 * Stage 2, Kim Andersen
 * Stage 4, Benno Wiss
 * Stage 2 Paris–Bourges, Bruno Cornillet
 * Tour de l'Avenir
 * Stage 4 TTT
 * Stage 13, Benno Wiss


 * 1986
 * Overall Étoile de Bessèges, Niki Rüttimann
 * Overall Tour Méditerranéen, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 5a, Jean-François Bernard
 * Overall Vuelta Ciclista a la Communidad Valenciana, Bernard Hinault
 * Stage 4a, Greg LeMond
 * Prologue & Stage 5b Tour de Romandie, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 5 Giro d'Italia, Greg LeMond
 * Stage 7 Clásico RCN, Bernard Hinault
 * Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné, Jean-François Bernard
 * Overall Tour de Suisse, Andrew Hampsten
 * Prologue, Andrew Hampsten
 * Stage 8, Guido Winterberg
 * Overall Tour de France, Greg LeMond
 * Mountains classification, Bernard Hinault
 * Young rider classification, Andrew Hampsten
 * Stages 9, 18 & 20, Bernard Hinault
 * Stage 13, Greg LeMond
 * Stage 14, Niki Rüttimann
 * Stage 16, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 2 Tour of Ireland, Steve Bauer


 * 1987
 * Stage 5 Vuelta a Andalucía, Andreas Kappes
 * Stage 4 Paris–Nice, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 1 Critérium International, Steve Bauer
 * La Flèche Wallonne Jean-Claude Leclercq
 * Stage 5 Circuit Cycliste Sarthe: Othmar Häfliger
 * Stage 1 Tour de Romandie, Niki Rüttimann
 * Stage 19 Giro d'Italia, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 8 Tour de Suisse, Roy Knickman
 * Stages 18 & 24 Tour de France Jean-François Bernard
 * Overall Post Danmark Rundt Kim Andersen
 * Overall GP Tell, Guido Winterberg
 * Stage 1 Pascal Richard
 * Stages 2 & 3, Kim Andersen
 * Overall Paris–Bourges, Kim Andersen
 * Stage 3, Kim Andersen


 * 1988
 * Paris–Nice
 * TTT Prologue
 * Stage 6a, Andreas Kappes
 * Giro d'Italia
 * Stages 1, 8 & 15, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 7, Andreas Kappes
 * Tour du Lyonais, Fabrice Philipot
 * GP Plouay, Luc Leblanc
 * Stage 6b Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Jacques Hanegraaf


 * 1989
 * Stage 1 Vuelta Ciclista a la Communidad Valenciana, Andreas Kappes
 * Stage 1 Critérium International: Marc Madiot
 * Stages 1b & 2 Route du Sud, Philippe Leleu
 * Tour de Suisse
 * Stage 5a, Remig Stumpf
 * Stages 7 & 8, Andreas Kappes
 * Young rider classification Tour de France, Fabrice Philipot


 * 1990
 * Stage 3 Vuelta a Andalucía, Pascal Lance
 * Stage 1b Vuelta Ciclista a la Communidad Valenciana, Remig Stumpf
 * Stage 8b Paris–Nice, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 2 Tour du Vaucluse, Thierry Bourguignon
 * Vuelta a España
 * Stage 15, Jean-François Bernard
 * Stage 21, Denis Roux
 * National Road Race Championships, Philippe Louviot
 * Overall Paris–Bourges, Laurent Jalabert
 * Stage 1, Laurent Jalabert
 * Overall Tour du Limousin, Martial Gayant
 * Stage 1, Christian Chaubet
 * Stage 8 Tour de la Communauté Europeènne, Martial Gayant
 * Stage 7 Herald Sun Tour, Jean-François Bernard


 * 1991
 * Overall Paris–Nice, Tony Rominger
 * Stages 6 & 8, Tony Rominger
 * Overall Tour de Romandie, Tony Rominger
 * Stages 2 & 4, Tony Rominger
 * Overall Cronostaffetta, Pascal Lance, Hans Kindberg, Sébastien Flicher, Laurent Bezault, Tony Rominger
 * Stage 1b (TTT), Pascal Lance, Hans Kindberg, Sébastien Flicher, Laurent Bezault, Tony Rominger
 * Grand Prix des Nations, Tony Rominger

Supplementary statistics
Sources