80th Tour de France 1993

Indurain Time Three

Two time defending champion Miguel Indurain came to France from his second victory in the 1993 Giro d’Italia. His race fitness was hitting a peak at exactly the right time. The main challenger to Indurain’s third Tour de France championship was thought to be talented climber Tony Rominger. Rominger’s altitude training in the Rocky Mountains had helped him win the recent Vuelta a Espana. The showdown of two Grand Tour champions would be played out on the roads of France. 

SPECIAL NOTE: The Tour’s organization, Le Societe du Tour de France, became a subsidiary of A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organization).  A.S.O. is a sports promotion group responsible for running a number of very prestigious sporting events (Paris-Dakar auto rally and the Paris Marathon), as well as the administration of the futuristic theme park, Futuroscope. The president of A.S.O. was French ski champion Jean-Claude Killy. The TdF, under the direction Jean-Marie LeBlanc, was experiencing exceptional growth and the new union with A.S.O. gave substantial promotional structure to France’s National treasure.

The first true test of 1993 came on stage 9, the 59 km individual time trial around Lac de Madine. The stage provided Indurain with the spring board to jump into the race lead. Despite a puncture Indurain rode a near flawless ITT to the stage win. His main rival, Tony Rominger, rode well but finished 4th, 2’42” behind Indurain. Rominger trailed the Spaniard by over 7 minutes after struggling during the rapid early stages. 

The Tour headed into the Alpine climbing stages following a rest day in Villard de Lans. Rominger and his Clas teammates executed their plan and drove the pace through the early climbs. The final climb of the grand Col du Galibier, Rominger attacked and moved steadily away from the lead group. His breakaway put the leaders in distress. Over the summit of the climb only 3 climbers and Indurain were able to re-connect with the Rominger. Indurain glued himself to Rominger’s rear wheel on the closing section into Serre Chevailier. Rominger won the sprint with Indurain a close third. Race leader Indurain struggled but survived a scare on the first day in the Alps.

The following stage featured the brutal climbing over two classic TdF mountain passes, the Col du Vars and the Col d’Izoard, and two very difficult new TdF climbs, La Bonette/Restefonds and Isola 2000. One by one the contenders took turns attacking Indurain. On the finishing climb to Isola 2000, a steep Hors Categorie (beyond category) climb, Rominger tried again to drop the race leader. The attentive Indurain matched Rominger pedal stroke for pedal stroke all the way to the finish line. Rominger gained his second straight stage win, but gained no time on the ever present Spaniard. 

The Pyrenees Mountains revealed the race leader as human. Indurain was dropped from the Rominger group several times, but fought back every time.  During the three tough Pyrenees stages, Indurain lost only three seconds to Rominger. With only the individual time trial remaining Rominger resigned himself to racing for a podium place. 

Time trials are described in the cycling community as "the race of truth".  True to his high level of fitness Tony Rominger destroyed the field over the 48 km ITT course, beating Indurain by 48 seconds and Jaskula by 1’48”. The stage win vaulted Rominger into second place with only the final run-in to Paris remaining.

Miguel Indurain cruised onto the Champs Elysees in Paris to claim his third straight Tour de France victory. Tony Rominger used his late stage charge to claim a second place podium spot. 

SPECIAL NOTE: Zenon Jaskula made Tour history with his third place finish. The Polish climber from the GB-MG team became the first Eastern Bloc rider to earn a podium spot. 

SPECIAL NOTE: To accomplish the “Giro/Tour double” once is an extraordinary accomplishment. Miguel Indurain became the first rider to accomplish the “Giro/Tour double” in two consecutive years.

TdF 1992

TdF 1994

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