Miguel Induráin is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist best known for winning the Tour de France five consecutive times from 1991 to 1995.
He is one of only four cyclists to have won the Tour de France five times, and uniquely achieved all those victories consecutively.
Induráin also won the Giro d’Italia twice, achieving the prestigious Giro-Tour double in the same season twice. He was an exceptional time trialist and climber, known for his physical size (186 cm and 76 kg) which earned him nicknames like “Miguelón” or “Big Mig”.
Induráin’s professional career spanned from 1985 to 1996. Besides his Tour and Giro wins, he was time trial world champion in 1995, Olympic time trial champion in 1996, and briefly held the hour record in 1994.
He won numerous other stage races and one-day classics, including the Volta a Cataluña, Paris-Nice, and Dauphiné Libéré. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cyclists in history and the best Spanish cyclist of all time.
Siblings
Induráin has three older and younger sisters—Isabel, María Dolores, and María Asunción.
His younger brother, Prudencio Induráin, carved a parallel path in the peloton, turning pro in 1989 with the Reynolds team and later joining Miguel at Banesto, where the siblings occasionally lined up together in races like the Vuelta a España.
Prudencio’s career, spanning from 1989 to 1997, yielded modest successes including stage wins in the Tour de l’Avenir and Vuelta a los Valles Mineros, but he often played the domestique role, shielding his famed brother from the wind and rivals alike during pivotal moments.
Career
Induráin’s odyssey from Navarrese dirt roads to global glory unfolded with methodical precision, blending raw power with tactical serenity over a 12-year professional tenure from 1984 to 1996.
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Joining the Reynolds team as a 20-year-old amateur sensation—fresh off a Spanish championship win in 1983 and a debut at the Los Angeles Olympics—he honed his craft in the peloton’s unforgiving forge, claiming early victories like the 1986 Tour de l’Avenir and etching his name with back-to-back Paris-Nice triumphs in 1989 and 1990.
Transitioning to Banesto in 1991 under the guidance of manager José Miguel Echávarri, Induráin unleashed his era of dominance, seizing the Tour de France that year by outpacing Gianni Bugno in the decisive time trial, a blueprint he repeated for four more consecutive crowns through 1995.
His prowess extended to the Giro d’Italia, where he stormed to victory in 1992 and 1993—becoming only the fourth rider to double up in the same season—while conquering classics like Clásica San Sebastián and stage races including the Dauphiné Libéré.
An aborted 1995 hour record attempt in Colombia strained team ties, and by 1996, the toll showed: a fourth-place Tour finish behind Bjarne Riis, an Olympic time trial gold in Atlanta as a professional-era swan song, and an abrupt Vuelta a España withdrawal signaled the end.
Retiring on January 2, 1997, in Pamplona with a simple declaration—”My family is waiting”—Induráin left the sport having amassed over 60 professional wins.
Accolades
Induráin’s trophy cabinet gleams with the sport’s most coveted jewels, a testament to his unparalleled blend of time-trialing supremacy and climbing tenacity that etched him into cycling’s pantheon as the only rider to claim five straight Tour de France general classifications from 1991 to 1995, surpassing predecessors like Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, and Bernard Hinault in consecutiveness if not total hauls.
This feat alone—coupled with 12 Tour stage victories, including blistering prologue routs—propelled him to the UCI Cycling Hall of Fame in 2002 and rankings among the top 25 all-time greats, while his 1992 and 1993 Giro d’Italia doubles marked him as the seventh cyclist to conquer both Triple Crown legs in one year.
Beyond the majors, he pocketed world individual time trial gold in 1995, Olympic gold in the same discipline at Atlanta 1996—the first for a pro in the event—and the 1994 hour record with a 53.040-kilometer mark held for two months.
Earlier laurels included Spanish amateur and road championships, the 1989 Critérium International and Paris-Nice, and Vuelta a Catalunya wins in 1988 and 1991, alongside Dauphiné Libéré triumphs in 1991 and 1995.
Off the bike, accolades flowed as Spain’s Athlete of the 20th Century, consecutive World Sportsman of the Year in 1992 and 1993, and the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 1992, honors that celebrated not just his 61-inch chest’s endurance but a legacy of sportsmanship that inspired generations without a whisper of scandal.
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