I've seen brief footage of him riding a frame painted in that mode, but most of the famous pics show him before this frame.
And on the back of Lemond's book, Greg's crouching behind the same bike, but with Huffy stickers on it.
I considered Hinault the French Hitler back in those days, thanks to the coverage in America. But I've since watched the same footage that made him out to be such a vile man, and decided that the commentators (and Davis Phinney [what a worm]) were really hamming it up at the Badger's expense.
There was one stage of the Coors Classic when Hinault and Phinney were in the same breakaway, and Hinault had no reason to work, so he sat on Phinney and took the Sprint. Phinney behaved like a child, dramatically scrubbing his face and saying, "Well, if ya gotta win like
that...!"
Welcome to bicycle racing 101, Davis. The object is to win, even if it means [shudder] drafting.
Wish I could find that footage on Youtube now. American cycling was really in its awkward teen-phase back then.
Eddie Merckx is still greater perhaps, but Hinault has done some things even Merckx has never done, like riding the field off his wheel (while in yellow) on the Champs Elysee, and winning Paris-Roubaix just so he could say he'd never do it again. And there are so many other great moments, but Wikipedia already has them typed out.
Besides I've been sporting the Mondrian La Vie Claire colors at events since '07 and I never see anyone else in them. Even if you take away the conditioning and the association, I like the brash, visible colors.