Throwback to Tour de France 1992 when Miguel Indurain dominated the individual time trials while keeping up with the climbers on the mountains, leading to some wondering if he was the ideal pro cyclist?
Transferred from a VHS recording of the 1992 Tour de France coverage on ESPN. The recording was made on July 24, 1992.
Miguel Endurain has virtually won the tour to France. But today, he faces his final test in an event which has made him known as the best man in the world, the individual time trial. If he wanted to build a time trialist, I think he’d look something like Miguel Injur with that superb riding position that he has. But the biggest advantage, I’m sure, is the psychological one he has over all his adversaries. When the pain gets too much, he doesn’t throttle back because he knows he can win not only the stage, but the whole tour to France. But the two climbers, Cladio Kipuchi and Andy Hamson, they’re terrified by what faces them on the road to Boa. In fact, Andy Hamson has tried to improve his timeting performance because he knows he’s so weak. Yesterday, he was so terrified by their event that he wouldn’t even talk to us after the finish. And he escaped to his hotel bedroom for some security to try and psych himself up for what faces him along the road today. One thing’s for certain, along the road to Bois, we’ll find out whether all the hard work put in by Andy Hamson has paid off. Miguel Indire reigns the world’s best cyclist. He’s 6’3 and 175 lbs. Normally, a cyclist of his size would be too big and heavy to get over the mountains of the tour to France. But his success stems directly from his superb riding position that allows him to combine both his strength and his exceptional flexibility. The two combined together allow him to use all his power efficiently when climbing. But at the same time, if you look at his position in the time trial, you can see just how far behind the saddle he sits. Not only is this position comfortable, but it allows him to push forwards and downwards at the same time, thus employing all of his force. Another advantage of this position well over the back wheel is that it also helps his stability when it comes to descending. He keeps his weight at the back of the bicycle and therefore steers easily around the corners. But I think that his biggest asset is the exceptional flexibility which allows him to pedal using much smaller gears on the climbs than many of his rivals. This prevents him having to dig deep into his reserves in order to climb on force, as the French