Indurain at La Plagne 1995



sopas

New Member
Jul 20, 2004
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Hello all,

I was just watching some cycling videos in youtube and found this of Indurain. It is amazing. The video starts with still 12 kilometers to go. Zulle is up in front riding alone with 4' 56'' advantage over a peloton of about 15 riders commanded by Indurain whose Banesto teamates have already disappeared!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhEKRjhLuds&feature=related"]YouTube - Tour 95 Subida a La Plagne[/ame]

At that moment Zülle is virtual Yellow yersey, so Indurain decides to go. Riis, Rominger, Pantani, Gotti, Virenque, Dufaux, etc can't follow.
5 minutes later Zülle's advantage is reduced to 4' 03''.
It's amazing. I have calculated Indurain's cadence and is about 85 RPM, at times even 90 RPM. ... and he didn't even get out of the saddle once!!

Here are the final times at the finish:

1. Zulle
2. Indurain at 2' 2''
3. Tonkov at 4' 11''
4. Pantani at 4' 37''
5. Gotti at 4' 37''
6. Virenque 6' 5''
7. Rominger 6' 5''
8. Lanfranchi 6' 5''
9. Chiapucci 6' 5''
10. Cubino 6' 26''

Riis didn't even make the top 10 that day.

Pantani arrived 2' 35'' after Indurain!!! This was the same Pantani that a few days later won in Alpe D'huex and beat the record of the climb!! Amazing!!!

A weight of 80 kilograms and climbing like that!! My God. Indurain has to be the strongest rider ever. Like someone wrote on youtube: "screw tactical attacks, just put down 600+ watts until everyone explodes".

Just to put a comparison. Cancellara weights about the same as Indurain and in the ITTs they may be very close, however Cancellara can not climb.
 
Indurain was capable of so much more than than he show us during his Tour de France reign
 
vspa said:
Indurain was capable of so much more than than he show us during his Tour de France reign
I always had the impression that he was content with winning the overall classification and only went all out when he was really in trouble.
At La Plagne that day Indurain most likely wouldn't have climbed that hard had Zülle been with the main pack.
 
EPO has amazing effect, ten years earlier those big guys would never have been able to be in front of peloton on mountain stages.
 
sopas said:
Hello all,

I was just watching some cycling videos in youtube and found this of Indurain. It is amazing. The video starts with still 12 kilometers to go. Zulle is up in front riding alone with 4' 56'' advantage over a peloton of about 15 riders commanded by Indurain whose Banesto teamates have already disappeared!

YouTube - Tour 95 Subida a La Plagne

At that moment Zülle is virtual Yellow yersey, so Indurain decides to go. Riis, Rominger, Pantani, Gotti, Virenque, Dufaux, etc can't follow.
5 minutes later Zülle's advantage is reduced to 4' 03''.
It's amazing. I have calculated Indurain's cadence and is about 85 RPM, at times even 90 RPM. ... and he didn't even get out of the saddle once!!

Here are the final times at the finish:

1. Zulle
2. Indurain at 2' 2''
3. Tonkov at 4' 11''
4. Pantani at 4' 37''
5. Gotti at 4' 37''
6. Virenque 6' 5''
7. Rominger 6' 5''
8. Lanfranchi 6' 5''
9. Chiapucci 6' 5''
10. Cubino 6' 26''

Riis didn't even make the top 10 that day.

Pantani arrived 2' 35'' after Indurain!!! This was the same Pantani that a few days later won in Alpe D'huex and beat the record of the climb!! Amazing!!!

A weight of 80 kilograms and climbing like that!! My God. Indurain has to be the strongest rider ever. Like someone wrote on youtube: "screw tactical attacks, just put down 600+ watts until everyone explodes".

Just to put a comparison. Cancellara weights about the same as Indurain and in the ITTs they may be very close, however Cancellara can not climb.

Indurain was a freak (I mean that in the nicest possible way).
Physically he was huge (for a cyclist) and the level of power he generated was simply off the chart.

The closest in terms of power and conveying that aura of strength is Ully and Merckx.
Both six footers too.


Canc reminds me of BigMig in terms of time trialling but there is no comparison in terms of climbing.
BigMig was able to stay with the really great climbers like Chiapucci, Zulle, Tonkov, Rominger, Gotti, Mottet : the only climber who had some difficulty with was Pantani.
But then again, who could live with Pantani.

Always liked BigMig.

Rumour has it, that one of Pinarellos test bikes, underwent a strenuous strength test at the University of Navarra.
Indurain allegedly reached 1,000 watt mark on a roller session, which ended up causing the bike frame to bend!
Urban myth?
 
poulidor said:
EPO has amazing effect, ten years earlier those big guys would never have been able to be in front of peloton on mountain stages.

Indurain had a nice and slow progression in his career, is not like from one day to another he could climb like this ...not like Austrian Kohl who finishes on the tour podium in his early 20's and first attempt.

anyway Thevenet and even Merckx were fairly tall and big, Bartali and Coppi too (Coppi was thin though).
 
vspa said:
...not like Austrian Kohl who finishes on the tour podium in his early 20's and first attempt.

... or like Hinault or Merckx. Your analogy is ****.
 
vspa said:
Indurain had a nice and slow progression in his career, is not like from one day to another he could climb like this ...not like Austrian Kohl who finishes on the tour podium in his early 20's and first attempt.

anyway Thevenet and even Merckx were fairly tall and big, Bartali and Coppi too (Coppi was thin though).
Yes a nice and slow progression linked to the learning of EPO use and other drugs. He and his doctors have been cautious on it. But I concede Indurain was probably a freak.

Do you believe it was possible to win TDF clean in 1995?