Miguel Indurain
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya |
| Nickname | Miguelón, Big Mig (English) |
| Date of birth | July 16, 1964 |
| Country |  Spain |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1985-1989 1990-1996 |
Reynolds Banesto |
| Major wins | |
| Tour de France, 5 overall and 12 stage wins Giro d'Italia, 2 overall and 4 stage wins Olympic Time-Trial Champion (1996)  World Time-Trial Champion (1995) |
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| Infobox last updated on: | |
| January 16, 2007 | |
Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya (born July 16, 1964, Villava, Navarre) is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He is best known for winning the Tour de France from 1991 to 1995, becoming only the fourth person to win the event five times, and the first to win five in a row.[1] Indurain's ability and physical size—1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) and 80 kg (176 lbs)—earned him the nickname "Miguelón" or "Big Mig". He was so popular that a Homo heidelbergensis cranium found in Atapuerca in 1992, when he also won the Giro, was nicknamed Miguelón in his honour.
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[edit] Biography
Indurain turned professional in 1985 and entered the Tour de France for the first time the same year, ultimately entering it in each of the next eleven years. Although he dropped out of the Tour in 1985 and 1986, his standing improved steadily until his first win in 1991. He rode in support of his team captain Pedro Delgado in the 1990 Tour, even though he might have been strong enough to win it himself. He won the event from 1991 to 1995, becoming the first to win five consecutive times (Jacques Anquetil was the first to win the event five times non-consecutively).
Indurain is often said to have been the best time trialist in the Grand Tours, putting in large gains against his rivals on the time-trial stages and riding defensively in the climbing stages. In the 1992 Tour he finished a 65 km time trial an astonishing three minutes ahead of the second-place rider. Despite his five Tour victories, he won only two Tour stages that were not individual time trials: mountain stages to Cauterets (1989) and Luz Ardiden (1990) in the Pyrenees. He was often accused of not fighting hard enough for wins in mountain stages in which he arrived in the lead group, while others respected this as a sign of a gentleness and gratefulness to his rivals.
In 1992 and 1993, years in which he won the Tour, Indurain also won the Giro d'Italia. In 1994 he set a World Hour record of 53.040 kilometres (circa 32.96 miles), breaking the previous record set by Scotland's Graeme Obree. During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where professional cyclists were allowed to compete for the first time, Indurain won the gold medal in the individual time trial. He also won the Dauphiné Libéré in 1995 and 1996.
In the 1996 Tour, Indurain was aiming for a sixth victory, but he suffered from bronchitis after an extremely cold and wet first week of the race, and could not prevail over Bjarne Riis. Riis later admitted having used EPO to win, but is still considered by the Tour organisers as the overall winner, but with reservations.
Indurain finished 11th and, in a stage passing through his hometown and ending in Pamplona, he finished 19th, eight minutes behind the stage winner. Later that year he abandoned the Vuelta a España, which his Banesto team had insisted he enter, saying that his legs felt like wood and that he could not breathe. He later announced his retirement from racing.
Even during the five years when he dominated the Tour, Indurain resisted comparison to great Tour champions of the past and once said that he had "never felt superior to anyone." On the bike, he seemed never to struggle or lose his composure. That, along with his quiet nature, led some to compare him to an extraterrestrial or a robot. He was also known to be exceedingly generous with his teammates. In 1992 fans reported overhearing him say "Mi baño es tu baño" (My bath is your bath) after big stages concluded especially to fellow countryman and domestique extraordinaire, Pedro Delgado.[citation needed]
In retirement he is a member of the Spanish Olympic Committee and of UCI's Professional Cycling Council. He is also Honorary President of the Miguel Indurain Foundation. He often attends cyclotourist events such as L'Etape du Tour and the Cape Argus Pick & Pay Cycle Tour in Cape Town, South Africa.
[edit] Physical advantages
At the top of his career, Miguel Indurain had a physique that was not only superior when compared to average people, but also when compared to his fellow athletes. His blood circulation had the ability to circulate 7 litres of oxygen around his body per minute,[2] compared to the average amount of 3-4 litres of an ordinary person and the 5-6 litres of his fellow riders. Also, Indurain's lung capacity was 8 litres, compared to an average of 6 litres. In addition, Indurain's resting pulse was as low as 28 BPM, compared to a normal human's 60-80 bpm , which meant his heart would be less strained in the tough mountain stages.[3] His VO2 max was 88 ml/kg/min; in comparison, Lance Armstrong's was 82 ml/kg/min and Greg LeMond's was 92.5 ml/kg/min.
[edit] Career highlights
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Spain |
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| Road bicycle racing | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | 1996 Atlanta | Time Trial | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 1995 Duitama | Elite Men's Time Trial | |
| Silver | 1993 Oslo | Elite Men's Road Race | |
| Silver | 1995 Duitama | Elite Men's Road Race | |
| Bronze | 1991 Stuttgart | Elite Men's Road Race | |
- Tour de France finishings
- 1985: Withdrew, 4th stage
- 1986: Withdrew, 8th stage
- 1987: 97th
- 1988: 47th
- 1989: 17th
- 1990: 10th
- 1991:
1st - 1992: 1st
- 1993: 1st
- 1994: 1st
- 1995: 1st
- 1996: 11th
- Vuelta a España finishings
- 1985: 84th
- 1986: 92nd
- 1987: Withdrew
- 1988: Withdrew
- 1989: Withdrew
- 1990: 7th
- 1991: 2nd
- 1996: Withdrew, 12th stage
- Major results
- World Time-Trial Championship (1995)
- Summer Olympics Men's Individual Time Trial (1996)
- Dauphiné Libéré (1995, 1996)
- Paris-Nice (1989, 1990)
- Clásica de San Sebastián (1990)
- Critérium International (1989)
- Grand prix du Midi Libre (1995)
- Volta a Catalunya (1988, 1991, 1992)
- Tour de l'Avenir (1986)
- Accolades
- French Légion d'honneur
- Prince of Asturias Awards: Sports (1992)
- Active member – Laureus World Sports Academy
- 1995 ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year
[edit] Quotes
- "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." — Chris Boardman
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lance Armstrong would subsequently duplicate and, indeed, improve on both feats.
- ^ Danish Cycle Union profile
- ^ 1991-1995: Big Mig's masterclass, BBC, August 3, 2004
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Greg LeMond |
Winner of the Tour de France 1991-95 |
Succeeded by Bjarne Riis |
| Preceded by Franco Chioccioli |
Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1992-93 |
Succeeded by Eugeni Berzin |
| Preceded by Chris Boardman |
World Time Trial Champion 1995 |
Succeeded by Alex Zülle |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by Incumbent |
Vélo d'Or 1992 – 1993 |
Succeeded by Tony Rominger |
| Preceded by Kevin Young |
United Press International Athlete of the Year 1993 |
Succeeded by Johan Olav Koss |
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