Spain's Sporting Heroes - Miguel Indurain
By Mike McDougall, Thu Dec 8th

Miguel Indurain is undoubtedly Spain's greatest cyclist and oneof the country's top sporting heroes. Born in Villava, Navarrein 1964, Indurain's greatest achievements came in the world'sgreatest cycle race, the Tour de France. Between 1991 and 1995Indurain reigned supreme in the tour taking five victories in arow in becoming the first man to achieve this remarkable feat.

Indurain turned pro in 1985 and entered the Tour de Francestarting a run of eleven straight years entering cycling'sprestige event. Although he didn't finish the 1985 and 86 tours,he established himself as an excellent team rider for theBanesto and played a big part in the 1988 win of Spanishcompatriot Pedro Delgado. In fact many claimed that Induraincould have bettered his 10th place finish in 1990 or even goneon to win, but Indurain refused to eclipse his team captainDelgado. The break through finally came in 1991 when Banestobuilt the team around Indurain as he started his dominance ofthe tour, over the next few years it became an extremelyfamiliar site to see Indurain in the coveted yellow jersey. As acyclist Indurain did most of his damage during time trials, hispowerful 6ft 2 frame earned him the nickname "Big Mig" and oftenleft his competitors without an answer. Famously on a stage inLuxembourg in 1994, he won a time trial by a massive threeminutes, powerful riding like this would give Idurain theadvantage he needed over his rivals. Indurain would then ridedefensively in the mountain stages, relying on his strong teamto cover any threatening breaks. Critics lambasted this style as"boring" but lovers of the sport also remember some great duelswith Greg Lamond in 1991 and also with the late, great Italian,Marco Pantani whose prowess in the mountain stages was second tonone.

As mentioned earlier in the article, Indurain was a supremenatural athlete; his resting heart beat was 28 bpm, less thanhalf the normal rate of an average, healthy human. Scientistshypothesized that Indurain's heart was up to 50% larger than anormal person and his huge lungs

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were capable of scooping up amassive eight litres of air. This freakish physical attributesled many rivals and admirers to claim there was some "inhuman"element to Indurain, further added to by his quiet nature andseemingly unshakable composure on the bike.

Away from the Tour de France, Indurain also has a big list ofhonours; he twice won the "Giro d'Italia" in 1992 and 93 (bothyears that he won the Tour as well), in 1994 he set the worldhour record covering just over 53.010 km (32.96 miles) in the 60minutes and at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 he picked up a goldmedal for his country in the individual time trial event.

Liked and respected by his fellow pros, Indurain was a humbleand unassuming gentleman who never boasted of his greatness evenwhen people tried to compare him to the great Tour winners ofthe past. English cyclist and time trial expert Chris Boardmanfamously said of Indurain: "Indurain makes me sick because he'sactually a really nice guy. You can't actually work yourself up,there's no hate involved, no anger. He's a really nice bloke anda true champion."

In his retirement Idurain has still kept an active role withincycling as a member of the UCI Professional Council andhe's also on Spain's Olympic Committee. Despite his tour recordbeing eclipsed by American Lance Armstrong's seven in a row inrecent years, Indurain's legacy as one of cycling's greats willlive on, not only in the heart's of Spaniards, but of sportsfans the world over.

About the author:Mike McDougall has five years experience working as a travelwriter and marketeer. He is currenlty working to provideadditional content for Babylon-idiomas, a Spanish language school with anexcellent presence in Spain and Latin America.

This work is covered by a creative commons licence