Miguel Indurain

Miguel Induráin Larraya (born 16 July 1964) is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France five years in a row, from 1991 to 1995, making him the fourth rider to reach five overall victories and the only one to do so consecutively. He also won the Giro d’Italia twice, joining a select group of seven riders who have completed the Giro-Tour double in a single season. Across his Tour career, he wore the yellow jersey for 60 days. He holds the record for the most consecutive Tour wins and shares the record for most overall wins with Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, and Tadej Pogačar. In 1993, he nearly achieved cycling’s Triple Crown: after winning both the Giro and the Tour, he finished second in the World Championship, just 19 seconds behind the winner.

Induráin’s physical build—186 cm (6 ft 1 in) and 76 kg (168 lb)—earned him the nicknames “Miguelón” and “Big Mig.” He became the youngest winner of the Spanish amateur national road championship at age 18, the youngest rider to lead the Vuelta a España at 20, and at 20 also won a stage of the Tour de l’Avenir.

He was born in the village of Villava (now Villava–Atarrabia), near Pamplona. He has three sisters—Isabel, María Dolores, and María Asunción—and a brother, Prudencio, who also became a professional cyclist. His first bike was a secondhand green Olmo, a gift for his tenth birthday. It was stolen when he was 11, so he worked in the fields with his father to pay for a replacement. From ages nine to 14, he tried running, basketball, javelin, and football. He then joined the local CC Villavés and raced for the first time in July 1978, an unlicensed event where he finished second. He won his second race and competed every week after that. His cycling hero was Bernard Hinault. At 18, he became the youngest winner of the national amateur road championship.

In 1984, he rode in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and turned professional on 4 September with the Reynolds team. A week later, he won his first professional race, a time trial in the Tour de l’Avenir. In 1985, he started the Vuelta a España and placed second in the prologue, behind Bert Oosterbosch. When Oosterbosch lost time on the second stage, Induráin took the lead, becoming the youngest rider ever to do so. He rode the Tour de France later that year—and would start it each of the next 11 years—but abandoned during the fourth stage. In 1986, he again abandoned the Tour, this time on stage 12. He began the 1987 Vuelta a España with bronchitis picked up at the Tour of Belgium. In 1988, he rode the Tour as a teammate of winner Pedro Delgado. In 1989, he broke away during stage 9 of the Tour, won the stage, and took the lead in the mountains classification, wearing the polka-dot jersey the following stage—the only time he ever did so. In 1990, he again rode the Tour in support of Delgado, but Delgado could not win. Induráin finished 10th, having sacrificed several places to wait for his teammate.

Induráin was a strong time trialist, gaining time on rivals and riding defensively on climbing stages. He won only two Tour stages that were not individual time trials: mountain finishes at Cauterets (1989) and Luz Ardiden (1990), both in the Pyrenees. During his five consecutive Tour wins, he never won a non-time-trial stage. His strengths suited the time-trial-heavy Tours of that era, which often featured 150–200 km of time trialling, compared to the more common 50–80 km today.

In 1991, Greg LeMond was the Tour favorite. Induráin was considered a fine time trialist but too large to be a good climber. LeMond led until stage 12, but on stage 13 he broke down on the Tourmalet, losing more than seven minutes to Induráin, who took the lead and kept it to the finish.

In 1992, Induráin won the prologue in San Sebastián and seized the yellow jersey, only to lose it the next day. He won the stage 9 time trial—over 65 km—by three minutes, catching Laurent Fignon, who had started six minutes ahead. The 1992 Tour was notable for a long breakaway by Claudio Chiappucci on a stage to Sestriere that included six mountains. Induráin appeared to struggle on the final climb, passed by Franco Vona, but managed to finish third, enough to reclaim the yellow jersey. From there, he established his racing style: crush rivals in time trials and control them in the mountains. This defensive approach drew criticism from his boyhood hero, Bernard Hinault, who said Induráin was the best rider of his generation but had won quietly, without great opposition, and that his reign would last if rivals let him get away with it. Induráin also won the Giro d’Italia in 1992. After winning the early time trial, he gained a decisive advantage on stage 9 to Latina-Terminillo, the first summit finish, finishing in the lead group and dropping the main contenders, gaining 30 seconds on Chiappucci. He won overall by 5 minutes 12 seconds and also won the final stage 21 time trial.

In 1993, Induráin rode the same way. He won the prologue at Puy-du-Fou and waited until stage 9, a 59 km time trial at Lac de Madine, to take control, winning by 2 minutes 11 seconds. From then on, he rode defensively, watching Tony Rominger, whom he considered a rival against the clock. One historian noted his ride was not without effort, but another said it lacked audacity.