January 2^nd 1997 was a very sad day to many cycling fans. That day, one of the worlds greatest cycleriders retired. His name is Miguel Indurain. For many years he gave us memories, which we will always remember. He decided to stop, when he was only 32 years old and still on top.

He won the worlds greatest cycle race - The Tour De France, not once, not twice. He won it 5 times. In 1991, 92, 93, 94 and 1995. That has only been done three times before him. Jaques Anquetil, Eddy Merxx and Bernard Hinault have also won the tour 5 times. In these five years he defeated great riders like : Claudio Chiapucci, Greg Lemond, Tony Rominger, Richard Virenque, Laurent Jalabert, Laurent Fignon and Gianni Bugno.

Not only did he win the Tour 5 times. He also won the second biggest race - Giro d'Italia 2 times. That was in 1992 & 1993. He became 3^rd in 1994. He has also won the Dauphne Libre and several stages in the Tour and the Giro. In 1995 he became the world champion in time trial. That has always been his biggest strenght. He could also drive in mountains. We all saw that, when he on the very first mountain in 1994 drove from almost everyone. Only Luc Leblanc was able to follow him. He did the same thing the year after, when Alex Zülle was about to win in La Plagne. He had several minutes down to Indurain, Riis etc. He would have gotten the yellow jersey if not Indurain suddenly had droven like crazy. No one could follow him, and he managed to keep the yellow jersey. That is one of those stages I will always remember.

Miguel Indurain's goal was to win the Tour De France 6 times. Many people thought that was impossible, but when he had won 5 times in 1995, there wasn't that many doubting it anymore. Unfortuanetly, he couldn't make it 6 times. The Danish rider, Bjarne Riis won instead. That was a very sad Tour De France for me to watch, even though I'm Danish.

Indurain didn't think he could win the Tour in 97, so he decided to stop. But before he did, he showed us all what a great champion he was. He won the time trial at the Olympics in front of other great time trial riders like Olano and Boardman.

So whatever happens in the future, Miguel Indurain will always have been the greatest cycle rider to me. Thanks to you Miguel, for giving me someone to look up to and good luck in the future.

Here is a small picture gallery with some great pics of Indurain

This page was created by Rasmus Nielsen on August 24 1997

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