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Miguel Indurain is undoubtedly
Spain’s
greatest cyclist and one of the country’s top sporting heroes.
Born in Villava, Navarre in 1964, Indurain’s greatest achievements
came in the world’s greatest cycle race, the Tour de France.
Between 1991 and 1995 Indurain reigned supreme in the tour taking
five victories in a row in becoming the first man to achieve this
remarkable feat.
Indurain turned pro in 1985 and entered the Tour de France starting
a run of eleven straight years entering cycling’s prestige
event. Although he didn’t finish the 1985 and 86 tours, he
established himself as an excellent team rider for the Banesto
and played a big part in the 1988 win of Spanish compatriot Pedro
Delgado. In fact many claimed that Indurain could have bettered
his 10 th place finish in 1990 or even gone on to win, but Indurain
refused to eclipse his team captain Delgado. The break through
finally came in 1991 when Banesto built the team around Indurain
as he started his dominance of the tour, over the next few years
it became an extremely familiar site to see Indurain in the coveted
yellow jersey. As a cyclist Indurain did most of his damage during
time trials, his powerful 6ft 2 frame earned him the nickname “Big
Mig” and often left his competitors without an answer. Famously
on a stage in Luxembourg in 1994, he won a time trial by a massive
three minutes, powerful riding like this would give Idurain the
advantage he needed over his rivals. Indurain would then ride defensively
in the mountain stages, relying on his strong team to cover any
threatening breaks. Critics lambasted this style as “boring” but
lovers of the sport also remember some great duels with Greg Lamond
in 1991 and also with the late, great Italian, Marco Pantani whose
prowess in the mountain stages was second to none.
As mentioned earlier in the article, Indurain was a supreme natural
athlete; his resting heart beat was 28 bpm, less than half the
normal rate of an average, healthy human. Scientists hypothesized
that Indurain’s heart was up to 50% larger than a normal
person and his huge lungs were capable of scooping up a massive
eight litres of air. This freakish physical attributes led many
rivals and admirers to claim there was some “inhuman” element
to Indurain, further added to by his quiet nature and seemingly
unshakable composure on the bike.
Away from the Tour de France, Indurain also has a big list of
honours ; he twice won the “Giro d’Italia” in
1992 and 93 (both years that he won the Tour as well), in 1994
he set the world hour record covering just over 53.010 km (32.96
miles) in the 60 minutes and at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 he
picked up a gold medal for his country in the individual time trial
event.
Liked and respected by his fellow pros, Indurain was a humble
and unassuming gentleman who never boasted of his greatness even
when people tried to compare him to the great Tour winners of the
past. English cyclist and time trial expert Chris Boardman famously
said of Indurain: "Indurain makes me sick because he's actually
a really nice guy. You can't actually work yourself up, there's
no hate involved, no anger. He's a really nice bloke and a true
champion."
In his retirement Idurain has still kept an active role within
cycling as a member of the UCI Professional Cycling Council and
he’s also on Spain’s Olympic Committee. Despite his
tour record being eclipsed by American Lance Armstrong’s
seven in a row in recent years, Indurain’s legacy as one
of cycling’s greats will live on, not only in the heart’s
of Spaniards, but of sports fans the world over. |
