To prepare for the 1978 Tour de France, Hinault rode his first grand tour, the Vuelta a Espana. He won and felt ready for his first Tour de France. Before the Tour, he won the national championship, which allowed him to wear the tricolour. This tour became a battle with Joop Zoetemelk, Hinault taking the yellow jersey after the final time trial. He was hailed as the next great French cyclist and won the Tour again in 1979.  Once again this Tour proved to be a two man battle between Hinault and Zoetemelk as amazingly they finished nearly a half hour ahead of the rest of the field. In fact the 79 Tour is the only time the Yellow Jersey was challenged on the final stage into Paris as Zoetemelk, trailing Hinault by about three minutes launched an attack early in the stage. Hinault answered and the two riders stayed away from the main field all the way to the finish. In the end Hinault won the stage and the Tour while Zoetemelk was given a ten minute doping penalty.  At the start of the 1980 season Hinault and Guimard's aim for the season was to win cycling's Triple Crown - the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the world championships, which had previously only been won in the same year by Eddy Merckx. Hinault won that year's Giro, clinching the race with an attack on the Stelvio Pass. In the 1980 Tour de France he abandoned the race while wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification because of a knee injury but he returned to win the world championship in Sallanches that year.  The following year, 1981, wearing the rainbow jersey, he won Paris-Roubaix and returned to victory in the 1981 Tour and then again in 1982. He missed the Tour in 1983, again because of knee problems. The organiser, Jacques Goddet, said in his autobiography L'Equipee Belle that Hinault's problems came from pushing gears that were too high. During Hinault's absence, his teammate Laurent Fignon rose to prominence by winning the Tour in 1983.

Answer this question "What happened in 1978?" by extracting the answer from the text above.
To prepare for the 1978 Tour de France, Hinault rode his first grand tour, the Vuelta a Espana.