News for February 16, 1997

Miguel explains his retirement

During more than half and hour of conversation, he responded to questions about his retirement, his career in cycling, his present situation and his immediate future. In that sense, he mentioned that he has had offers from different media to participate as commentator in cycling races, although he mentioned that he hadn't commited to anyone. "A group from the different communications media wants to speak with me. In the end I will listen to the offers, because I wouldn't like to be every day or at every race, but comment a few days. If we don't reach an agreement, I will grab my car and go myself to see cycling", he said. Indurain mentioned that he has a dinner pending with Banesto to say goodbye to them and thank them for their years in cycling. "I don't know what they want to offer me for the future, that is up to them", he added.

About his present situation, once he retired: "I've only gained the six or seven kilos of every year and that's where I've drawn the line. I intend to live a life as normal and pleasant as possible, although I can't because of all the commitments". The ex-cyclist assured: "I ride on the bike slower and I continue to do what I feel like doing, every day something different". "I live a normal life like anybody else and now I enjoy things that I couldn't do up to now", said the champion, who added that "he was saturated of so much cycling" and that he's "a bit happy for not having to go out and train everyday with all the bad weather". "When the big races and the better weather arrives, I know that the bug will hit me", he added. Indurain, who said that he missed amateur cycling, when he would get on the car for the weekend, he trained very little and would compete "among friends". "Later as a professional, it changes, because you don't do it as much because you like to". To balance his statement, he declared that he had done what he enjoyed the most during all these years and has allowed him to "live a life different from other youngsters". "I have made a living with it and I have suffered, but it has been worth it", he added.

He pointed towards Dane Bjarne Riis as the favorite for the next edition of the Tour de France, while he said about Abraham Olano, new team leader at Banesto after his retirement, that "he is the present and future of Spanish professional cycling". Lastly, Indurain manifested that he didn't believe that cycling would loose its relevance because of his retirement, since "when on king dies, another one rises. Somebody will take over and we also need to give our support to the ones that are not on top".

Interview with Miguel Indurain

A. Good, peaceful. Not that much time has passed. For now I don't miss the competition. Maybe in time I will, I don't know. For now everything its normal.

Q. re you still riding the bicycle regularly?

A. Less than I should. Sabino -referring to his Dr. Sabino Padilla- is not going to be happy about it, but the truth is that I don't have much time. the truth is that I don't have much time.

Q. What bicycle are you normally using? The mountain or the road bike?

A. The road one, the road bike.

Q. Have you gained a lot of weight in these two months of inactivity?

A. Six or seven kilos, what's normal for in the winter. I have stabilized. -We told him that he looks heavier on pictures than live-. Is just that I got a haircut and it always gives that impression.

Q. What do you remember from the first steps of your career in Zegama, when you were an amateur?

A. I rode a lot in Gipuzkoa, in Vizcaya, here, in Navarra. I remember that they were tough races. Twenty or thirty would come out of here, you would get there and there would be over 100 participants.

Q. And the rest of the races, like the Clasica de San Sebastian, Bicicleta Vasca, Vuelta al Pais Vasco, among others?

A. La Clasica was something very special. It was already a World Cup race. In addition to winning, it was the way that I did it. That is one of my best memories. I participated many times at the Bicicleta Vasca and Vuelta al Pais Vasco. La Vuelta al Pais Vasco, was too early for me, at la Bicicleta Vasca, I had already ridden more, I was in better form. In one Vuelta al Pais Vasco I remember working for Julian - referring to Gorospe-. In another one, I had to retire because of a fall. It wasn't a good time for me.

Q. Are you under the impression that your sports career went by very rapidly?

A. Yes, very fast. I would finish the Tour and the World would come, then a Winter which was shorter every year and the start again. I have spent 12 years as a pro, plus the ones as a junior and an amateur and the truth is that they have gone fast.

Q. What do you remember from your past, your great past?

A. There it is. That's it, it's past.

Q. Are you following the beginning of the cycling season?

A. Yes, I look in the newspaper for the classification, yes I follow it.

Q. And how do you see the new season for Spanish cycling?

A. I think that there are people with possibilities, with what it takes to be a cyclist. There are young riders who should get far. Apart from Olano, there are riders like Escartin, Casero, Zarrabeitia, Jimenez, Blanco, who will be ahead. The difficult part is that extra step over being with the best.

Q. And at the international level, who do you see things? What do you think of Ullrich?

A. The truth is that up to last year, I had barely coincided with him. His young and he'll have to test himself. At the Tour he could have done more than what he did. Plus we need to see how Pantani recovers.

Q. Which other riders have options at the international level?

A. We need to see how Tonkov is after winning last year's Giro. Berzin? If he centers himself, he has great potential. There will be a group of riders who will be in the front. We have to see how Riis responds, who in principle, as the last winner is the big favorite for the Tour. Olano? He's the present and the future of Spanish cycling. He has already shown important things.

Q. By the way, the Giro returns to the Mortirolo, but the stage ends at the end of the descent.

A. It doesn't matter, before going down, once has to climb it and it is terrible. What a gift! Such memories! One year we had to go up slower than we could, because of the smell of the gasoline that was left behind by the cars and the motorcycles. Nobody could breath. They said that nobody would pass us and everybody did.

Q. Should a rider reach the Tour, fresh or saturated of competition?

A. Physically and mentally fresh. The day comes while racing, when you least expect it, when you can't anymore. The people, the pressure can saturate you.

Q. How do you see cycling right now?

A. Everyday the preparation for races will be more specific. Some riders will prepare for the Classics, others the Tour, others la Vuelta, others the Giro. Everyday it becomes more selective. To start all the way from the beginning, its over. What counts in the need is to win.

Q. Does winning in the Tour compensate for everything else?

A. One can win many things, but in the end, one realizes that the Tour is what's worth the most. At least that's how it reflects everywhere. You can win a great number of races, but the Tour can match everything.

Q. Are you overwhelmed by the number of commitments that you now have?

A. Some had been promised years ago, but I don't go to all of them. In a few days, I will leave for Benidorm (his beach house) to spend some time. I suppose that with the passing of time, people will start forgetting about me. Anyway, things are tranquil, I'm feeling well.

Q. Are you thinking of attending any cycling races?

A. Not for now, but in the future, I will, but peacefully. To follow them in a car, has to be boring. Sometimes before, I have gone in the Team car and it is a bit boring. We will see. What I know, at least for now, is that I won't do a complete stage race. I will try to have as easy a year as possible.

Q. It was said at one point that at some point you might return to competition.

A. What happened is that I had a pending meeting with Echavarri and Unzue, and I met with them, but not to return to cycling, but to talk about other things. At no time did I think about going back to cycling.

Q. And how is the relationship with Banesto, the bank?

A. I have a dinner pending with them, only to say goodbye, nothing else. I don't know what will come out of that dinner. After spending so much time with them, it is normal for me to say goodbye.

Q. When people stop you in the streets, what do they tell you?

A. When they stop me, they ask me things and the animate me. For now I feel good about it, but with time, interest will decrease. My time will pass, like everybody else.

Q. Have you talked to your brother Pruden about the beginning of the season?

A. He went to La Vuelta a Mexico and then to Mallorca. I have barely spent a day with him. When he comes back, I will go out some day to train with him, until I can.

Q. How are you doing with your new life? How do you organize yourself>

A. Normally. I'm with my son, my wife. Very tranquil. Everybody asks me the same thing. I think that the same as any other person. I try to be a tranquil as possible, inside some order and what is allowed to me.

Q. A lot has been written about your activities and acquisitions in certain places in Spain.

A. Yes, I have been finding out. They have said that I have a chalet next to the Preysler, in Madrid. That I have an apartment across from La Concha, in San Sebastian and the truth is that I have neither. Anyway, I would like it. My wife has explained to me where the famous apartment is and if they gave me the keys, I would take them. (Laughing).

Q. Are you playing golf?

A. I have only grabbed some golf clubs once in my life, to take a photograph in Switzerland, at a Rominger Classic -a tournament organized by Rominger- and since then I haven't touched one.

Q. And the villa that people said that you have bought in Navarra?

A. If I had bought everything that people are saying, I would own half of Navarra. Something curious happened to me about the villa. I stopped at a gas station to fill up and a gentleman told me, 'that villa that can be seen from far, people say that you bought it'. I told him that it wasn't rue, but he didn't believe it. And the truth is that I haven't bought any villa. (At this time, his wife, Marisa, intervened to tell us: "We are simple people, who don't need luxury, although it seems that people want to attribute to us things that we haven't bought")

International competition for women riders

"This is the basis for an international circuit", said the current women's road racing commissioner for the KNWU, Leo van de Wal. "The International Cycling Federation (UCI) pays little attention to international competition for women. We have therefore taken the initiative ourselves."

In the Netherlands, the Flevo Tour and the Ster of Zeeland will make up the Dutch part of the competition. The Team of Hoekstra will start also race in two competitions in Belgium and Germany.

Paris-Nice news

During the "race to the sun", which begins on March 9, there will be 20 tests with all the riders giving 4 millilitres of blood. The UCI doctors will conduct the tests.

One laboratory has been contracted to conduct the analysis that will take around 15 to 20 minutes before the results are known. Cyclists with a hematocriet level of 50 per cent or more will be forbidden to start. Their blood is so thick - comprising so many red blood cells.