1976) and Joop Zoetemelk of (who had won in 1980), both set a new record, by each starting in the race for the fifteenth time. The teams entering the race were: Pre-race favourites Laurent Fignon () had won the previous year's Tour de France, his second victory in a row, by a substantial margin of more than ten minutes ahead of Bernard Hinault (), a four-time winner of the Tour. However, he was unable to defend his title, as an operation on an inflamed Achilles tendon left him sidelined. According to Dutch newspaper Het Parool, Fignon missing the race was well received, considering that otherwise the race was expected to be as one-sided as the year before. In Fignon's absence, Hinault was considered the clear favourite to achieve his fifth overall victory, which would draw him level with Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx for the record number of Tour de France wins. Hinault himself commented ahead of the prologue: "If I sound sure of myself, it's because I am." Earlier in the year, he had won the Giro d'Italia. Hinault's team had been significantly strengthened for 1985, with the signings of Steve Bauer, Kim Andersen, and Bernard Vallet. The biggest addition to 's roster however was Greg LeMond. Having turned professional with alongside Hinault and Fignon in 1981, he had enjoyed a steady rise in the cycling world, including a win in the road world championship in 1983 and a third place in the previous year's Tour. During that race, 's team owner Bernard Tapie had approached LeMond, offering him the highest-paid contract in cycling history to set him up as a successor to Hinault. LeMond was therefore considered "the other choice as a possible winner". LeMond himself stated that he would work for Hinault, but that he did not doubt that Hinault would do the same for him should he lose his chances. Equally, Hinault declared before the start that either himself or LeMond would win. The amount of individual time trials, four stages totaling , was considered in Hinault's favour, since he excelled at the discipline. Due to the race start in Brittany, Hinault's home region and the large amount of time trialling, commentators jokingly referred to the edition as the "Tour de Hinault". The third highly ranked favourite was Phil Anderson (), who had just won both the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and Tour de Suisse, the