Indurain Wraps Up Tour Win

Miguel Indurain rode into history with his fifth straight victory in the Tour de France, cycling’s premier event that will be remembered for the death of an Italian Olympic champion.

Indurain rode into Paris in Sunday’s 20th and final stage and onto the Champs Elysees on a sunny day that made the yellow leader’s jersey he wore since July 9 shine even brighter. The Spaniard joins three other riders who won the Tour five times, but Indurain is the first to win five in a row.

“Maybe I won’t fully realize what I’ve done until I get home and have time to evaluate it, just like every year,” Indurain said.

Belgian Eddy Merckx, and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault also won five Tours, with both Merckx and Anquetil winning four straight.

“To equal the record set by riders like Merckx, Hinault and Anquetil means a lot to me and I’m extremely happy,” Indurain said. “But also it’s another Tour of France and that in itself is sufficient.”

Residents of Villava, in northern Spain, rang church bells, popped champagne corks and fired rockets to celebrate the victory by their native son.

Indurain won while finishing near the back of the pack up the Champs Elysees. But that was more than enough maintain his lead of 4 minutes, 35 seconds over Alex Zulle of Switzerland.

Zulle is the fifth different runner-up to join Indurain on the Tour’s final podium. Bjarne Riis of Denmark was third, 6:47 behind.

Indurain’s record victory will have a tragic note with the death of Fabio Casartelli, who crashed on a descent in the Pyrenees last Tuesday. The rider was buried Thursday and in a tribute from all riders, his Motorola teammates were allowed to win Wednesday’s stage.

All prize money for the day’s stage was donated to Casartelli’s family with the Motorola team adding its entire winnings.

The death of a competing cyclist was the third since the Tour de France began in 1903. In 1967, British world champion Tom Simpson collapsed during a mountain climb on an extremely hot day. In 1935, Francesco Cepeda of Spain was killed when he fell into a ravine.

Lance Armstrong of the United States captured the 18th stage on Friday, pointing to and kissing the sky as he crossed the line in a salute to Casartelli.

Armstrong finished 36th overall.