Bicycling: Another for the Accountant

France's Jacques Anquetil, 29, is the world's best bicycle racer—and one of its most unpopular athletes. A one-time baker's helper from Sotteville (literally: Stupidville) in Normandy, he makes a fetish of independence—testily ignoring fans, truculently snubbing opponents, even going so far as to wear his watch on his right wrist, simply because most people wear theirs on the left. Critics complain that Anquetil "does not like to suffer" (a quality Frenchmen demand in heroes) and that he races "like an accountant" (always conserving his strength, never taking risks). "Jacques," his coach once argued, "you...