|
|
STAGE 15: BIG MIG TALKS TOUR WITH ROAD BIKE ACTION
Tim Maloney-European Editor
July 20, 2008
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
It's always a special occasion to meet a five-time Tour De France winner. Only Lance Armstrong and Bernard Hinault and one other man can answer that call and since Lance won seven so he probably wouldn't answer. Miguel Indurain won five straight Tours between 1991-1995, was Olympic & World champion against the clock and held the World Hour record. Big Mig was one special rider and all the times Road Bike Action been fortunate enough to meet Indurain, he has been polite and friendly; a vero signore, a true gentleman.
A few days after his 44th birthday, Indurain was in Treviso, Italy as a special guest of his old friend and sponsor Fausto Pinarello, as he won all of his five Tours aboard a Pinarello. In town for the Italian bike maker's 2009 product presentation and Gran Fondo Pinarello ride, we grabbed a few moments of
Miguelon's time to ask him if he had been following the 2008 Tour De France.
Indurain told Road Bike Action" Yes I have been watching the Tour and it's very interesting this year; I watched the first stages and of course Hautacam. That was interesting to me!" We shared a laugh over the first time the Tour De France ascended Hautacam in 1994, when big Big Mig's infernal pace blew Marco Pantani out the back but allowed Frenchman Luc Leblanc, who hadn't done a turn, to escape into the fog and win the stage. "Yeah", he laughed, "I wanted to win that day but Leblanc took it. But we got rid of Pantani!"
Road Bike Action asked Miguelon if he had a favorite at the year's Tour De France and he smiled and shook his head. "It's very open this year...no one rider looks much stronger than the others. Evans is strong and is good in time trials, and Schleck is good. I don't know Vandevelde but he looks good too." When we asked Indurain about Rabobank Russian Denis Menchov, who came up through the same Banesto system that he did, he said "yes, Menchov is another Tour contender. But if it gets hot, that will be bad for him as he doesn't ride well when it's hot." We left Indurain to finish his bike set-up for the Gran Fondo Pinarello, where he would ride a special Pinarello Prince equipped with Campagnolo's new Super Record 11 speed group. Look for an inside look soon on Pinarello's exciting new 2009 range on Road Bike Action
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|