Hinault Has Best Time in 10-Mile Climb, Takes Over Leader’s Jersey

VAIL, Colo. —  France’s Bernard Hinault had the fastest time in a steep 10-mile time trial over Vail Pass, then placed 12th in a criterium won by Holland’s Teun Van Vliet to take over the leader’s jersey Sunday at the Coors International bicycle races.

Hinault covered the time trial course in 26 minutes 56.4 seconds, while second place went to Greg LeMond of Reno in 27:46.88. Jean-Francois Bernard of France was third in 27:47.28.

In the 50-mile Vail Village criterium later, Van Vliet led a pack of five riders clocked in 1 hour 44 minutes 1 second. The others in the pack were Joel Pelier, Bob Roll, Ivan Romanov, and John Talen.

Hinault was only two minutes behind in 1:45:51, which gave him a total time of 25 hours 5 minutes 3 seconds, good for first place in the overall standings. LeMond was second overall, about a minute behind Hinault.

In the women’s race, Inga Benedict of Reno won the Vail Pass time trial with a time of 31:30.72, and Jeannie Longo of France took the 30-mile criterium in 1:08:30.

Longo retained her overall leadership with a total time of 5:30:39 seconds. Benedict was second, with Maria Canins of Italy third.

Today’s schedule calls for the women to have a 57-mile road race, finishing at Copper Mountain, and for the men to have an 81-mile road race from Vail to Copper Mountain.