Alasdair Fotheringham explains why Miguel Indurain, five-time winner of the Tour de France, is riding in Spain this week against his will
MOST Spaniards are loyal first to their family, second to their home town and only considered their country as an afterthought, said the writer and lover of Spain, Gerald Brenan.
Had Brenan been talking about Miguel Indurain earlier this year he would probably have included “to his cycling team” in the list. But now, a month later, the rider’s loyalty has become the subject of public debate.
In a reversal of policy towards the five-time Tour de France winner, Indurain’s sponsor has decided for the first time in five years that he has to ride the Tour of Spain this month.
The wishes of the most successful Spanish cyclist of all time simply did not count, and Big Mig is sitting on a bike saddle somewhere in Andalucia, presumably counting the kilometres until the race finishes in Madrid.
Given that he will almost certainly retire at the end of this season even if he wins the Vuelta, Indurain will be leaving a sport he dominated in the Nineties on a distinctly sour note.
If he continues racing, he may well sign for a team that will show him the respect traditionally due to a Tour de France winner, and one of the strongest relationships between an individual rider and his team will have been broken. For Indurain has been with the same squad since he turned professional in 1985.
Since the Spanish bank Banesto took over as his sponsor in 1990 other riders may have come and gone, but behind the scenes the technicians, masseurs and managers essentially have remained untouched.
Indurain frequently describes the team as an extended family and up to now the relationship has been mutually beneficial. In return for Indurain’s services, Banesto has gained an enormous amount of publicity.
Turning on the television at half past three on a July afternoon to see what is happening to Miguel in the Tour de France has become a ritual in Spanish households. Quiet, courteous and dedicated, the image the smallholder’s son projects of being an honest man of the soil has made him an ideal target for sponsorship.
The Banesto squad has essentially been built around Indurain and in the past what he has said has gone. Not that this was seen as a positive thing. The Banesto team always attracted flak for their lack of interest in the Spanish calendar and questions were even raised in parliament over Indurain’s refusal to ride the Vuelta.
The excuse of Indurain’s mentor and team manager Jose Miguel Echavarri was that the team’s priority was the Tour de France. “We have to have the squad ready for July. All other interests are secondary,” he said. “We are always being criticised for not having an aggressive enough team, but what we need is a team to defend a leader’s jersey.” Those were the days when Echavarri used to insist: “We can’t force Indurain to do something he doesn’t want to.” Namely riding the Vuelta, which until 1994 was held in April, making it too early in the season to serve as a build-up for the Tour.
The tide began to turn against Indurain this July when the Dane Bjarne Riis put an end to his run of five consecutive Tour de France victories. The Spaniard cracked not once but three times on the mountain stages, and the team designed to defend a lead was unable to mount an effective counter- attack. He finally finished 11th overall, nearly 15 minutes behind Riis.
It seemed one-day races would be the most likely final act to the ageing cyclist’s career. But his sponsor, it seems, thinks otherwise. During a minor race in August, the Tour of Burgos in Spain, Indurain discovered that orders had been received from Banesto that he was to ride the Vuelta. For a rider of his standing this was bordering on humiliation.
In a rare but very public outburst of anger, the normally placid rider began doing bizarre things in the race, such as storming ahead when he punctured rather than waiting for a spare wheel. His post-race interviews, famous for inducing siestas, also changed their tone. “I don’t want to ride, but they’ve made me,” he said. “I had thought I was going on holiday in September, but the situation the team finds itself in has decided things.
“I’ve always wanted to race and win the Vuelta, but right now I’m tired. The team always decides what happens, but it’s the first time in my life that somebody’s told me what I have to do.” Strangely he claimed his relationship with his team managers was still “as excellent as ever”.
Ironically, when in 1992 Indurain did a similar thing and blew his top — when the team asked him to stay on in Paris at the end of the Tour for some public relations — he refused and his wishes were respected.
As Indurain’s loyalty is being stretched to the limit, so is his team directors’ verbal ingenuity as they try to justify the decision.
Echavarri, who had once sneered that “the Vuelta in September is like a resit for riders who have failed their exams in July in the Tour”, is now declaring: “It’s not the pressure from the company that has decided matters but the fact that if he hadn’t ridden the fans would have been disappointed.” The fans — not to mention Banesto — are fortunate that Indurain, widely admired for his professional attitude, has declared that even though he is racing against his wishes, he will try and win.
It could well be his last chance. While he pits his wits against others who flunked the Tour exam — Tony Rominger, Laurent Jalabert and Alex ZUlle — Banesto is hedging its bets about next year and trying to sign the new star in an empty Spanish firmament, the reigning world champion Abraham Olano.
Olano, six years younger than Indurain, is tied to the Italian Mapei team for the next two seasons, but may be given freedom to negotiate a move.
ENDS