Tour Has Familiar Look To It

Most people see the Tour de France as Miguel Indurain’s to lose. That includes Britain’s Chris Boardman, a favorite to take the event’s prologue.

Indurain seeks a record sixth title - all consecutive - when the Tour begins with the prologue Saturday in Den Bosch, a small town southeast of Amsterdam.

The first stage also ends in Den Bosch. The second stage, Monday, takes the riders out of the Netherlands, through Belgium, and into France.

An overall victory by the Spaniard “is probably going to happen. Indurain has such a stable character and can judge everybody else well,” Boardman said Thursday.

Boardman, who owns Olympic and world championship gold medals in pursuit, won the Tour prologue in 1994. But his hopes of a repeat were snuffed after 2 minutes last year in Saint-Breuc, France, when he wiped out in heavy rain.

With foreboding gray skies covering this historic cathedral town Thursday, the world 1-hour record holder said he doesn’t expect to go all out on the 5.8-mile route if there’s another downpour.

“I won’t take any risks in that case. I can’t afford to lose another year,” said Boardman, 28, sidelined for four months after the mishap with six fractures in his left ankle and a broken wrist.

While Boardman still hopes for another prologue triumph, weather permitting, his priority is to finish the Tour.

“Reaching Paris is the most important thing for me,” he said. “Finishing in the top 20 is a reasonable objective.”

Many of the cyclists must be content with aiming for reasonable objectives - such as merely completing the 21 stages covering 2,418 miles - rather than pointing at the overall title.

That’s because Indurain, 31, has made the Tour de France his personal victory parade. His win last year matched the record of five in a career, previously accomplished by Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx.