Indurain makes history with 5th TDF Win

[Patrick D. Walters]

 27 23-JUL-1995 12:27 Indurain makes history with fifth Tour in a row

    By Paul Radford
    PARIS (Reuter) - Miguel Indurain of Spain completed an historic fifth
consecutive Tour de France triumph Sunday, taking his place as the greatest
champion in the most demanding event in sport.
    Djamolidine Abdoujaparov of Uzbekistan won the 20th and last stage in the
traditional mass sprint finish on the Champs Elysees but the honors were for
Indurain's unique feat, one which has few equals in modern sport.
    The Spaniard joined three other riders, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and
Bernard Hinault, with five Tour wins but he became the first to take his
victories in successive years.
    Abdoujaparov's win in the 100-mile final stage from Sainte Genevieve des
Bois was great recompense for the Asian sprinter who had tried desperately but
failed to win a single stage before in this year's Tour.
    The Uzbek, who fell spectacularly in the 1991 sprint on the Champs Elysees
and broke his collar bone after hitting an advertising hoarding, won the final
stage in Paris two years ago as well. It was his eighth stage victory in all.
    But it was Indurain who totally dominated the three-week race over 2,272
miles to finish four minutes 35 seconds ahead of Swiss Alex Zuelle, with Dane
Bjarne Riis claiming the third place on the podium.
    The tall, elegant Banesto rider, who turned 31 during the Tour, became the
second-oldest man to win the race in the last 35 years. Dutchman Joop
Zoetemelk was 33 when he won in 1980.
    His winning margin was slightly smaller than in the past two years because
Indurain came under more intensive pressure from Zuelle's ONCE team than in
previous Tours.
    But he coped with it so comfortably it is hard to imagine who could beat
him when he returns next year to aim for what would be a record sixth win.
    His two time-trial victories at Seraing and the Lac de Vassiviere took his
tally to 12 stage wins in the Tour, the last 10 achieved in races against the
clock.
    Curiously, his two other stage victories, both in the Pyrenees, were the
only ones achieved in the years before he took the title.
    Five different riders have now enjoyed the honor of finishing second to
Indurain on the Tour -- Italians Gianni Bugno and Claudio Chiappucci, Swiss
Tony Rominger, Latvian Piotr Ugrumov and now Zuelle.
    Despite having no riders in the top three for the sixth successive year,
home nation France enjoyed a double celebration with Laurent Jalabert and
Richard Virenque capturing prestigious titles.
    Jalabert, who finished fourth overall, won the green jersey as points
winner, a title he also won in 1992, and Virenque took the King of the
Mountains trophy for the second successive year.
 ^REUTER