Miguel Indurain

Miguel Indurain-Larraya was born July 16, 1964, in the small village of Villava, Navarre province, Spain. He grew up on a farm with a brother and three sisters, and were it not for his natural aptitude for the bicycle, he may well have been very happy as a farmer (he has since retired to a modest house and a quiet life in his home village). Though he would give cycling a try when he was eleven, he was not yet ready for the dedication the sport takes, and instead followed his interests in soccer and track. Less than five years later, however, he would get back on the bike.

Indurain won the Spanish Amateur Road Championship in 1983, and began his training program with Eusebio Unzue, who coached the local racing team. Indurain was nineteen at the time, and the next year he won 14 races, enough to convince him that it was time to turn professional. He joined a team in Pamplona headed by the former Spanish national team coach. The training rides were grueling, and Indurain, as he prepared for the many races he would participate in, logged tens of thousands of miles to increase his endurance.

Though he would not make it into his first Tour until 1985, Indurain had the ability to become a competitor in the Tour, and his coach and teammates knew it as well. It

Miguel Indurain

would take time. The three weeks the Tour de France entails requires riders to sit on their bikes for five to seven hours a day nearly every day, often requiring years of cycling experience before a cyclist will even be able to complete his first race. Many riders drop out before the finish, and Miguel, in these early years, was no exception. In 1986 he pulled out of the race after the 12th stage.