Outgoing French President Francois Hollande welcomes newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Presidential Palace on May 14, 2017 in Paris | Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images François Hollande hits out against Macron in tell-all memoir ‘I could have beaten Emmanuel Macron, but I didn’t want to,’ former president insists.

Former French President François Hollande has set out to correct the record on his decision to drop out of last year's presidential race and his relationship to his successor, ahead of the release of his tell-all book Wednesday.

"I could have beaten [French President] Emmanuel Macron, but I didn't want to," François Hollande insisted in an interview with French broadcaster France 2 Tuesday evening, referring to his decision not to run against his former economy minister in France's presidential election last spring.

"Because what would it have lead to? I wouldn't have been the winner, he wouldn't have been the winner, and today we'd have a president pushing an even more hard-line political agenda than the one we're seeing now," Hollande said.

French Twitter users wasted no time in trolling Hollande for his comments, saying: "I could have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but I didn't want to" or "I could have been Miss France, but I didn't want to."

The release of Hollande's book, "Lessons of Power," coincides with a turbulent time for Macron, who is facing a major test to his presidency with rail strikes across the country and sinking popularity ratings — especially among workers, students and pensioners — as he tries to reshape the French economy.

Hollande, in the book, insisted "France is doing better" than when he first took office and warned that democracy "without being weak" should not resemble a monarchy.

"When you use negotiation, discussion, you can achieve results. When you use force, you can win. But you lose credibility, legitimacy," the former president told Le Nouvel Obs, in veiled criticism of Macron, who's faced criticism for being a "president of the rich" and using regal symbols to lend his presidency legitimacy.

Hollande also insisted on the importance of "intermediary bodies" such as labor unions and the media in countering presidential power.

Macron, who is preparing a media blitz of his own, is scheduled to give a lengthy interview to French outlet TF1 on Thursday as he nears the one-year mark of his time in office.