Bernard Hinault, another man who won the Tour five times, ruled the pack No one came or went without his permission. When a young rider attempted an attack, Hinault chased after him and told him he was "committing suicide and to get back there with the rest".Indurain, who is now aged 32, is more easy-going and never plays the boss until a stage gets serious. He can see no point in and has no need for brash acts to antagonise rivals, but when he turns on the power his rivals hurt."Miguel is a lord," said the man who nurtured the champion's career, Jose Miguel Echavarri, who gave up a bar in Pamplona to run the Reynolds cycling team in 1985. But cycling won him back.He grew into a champion, and into a role model He is strong and he rarely sees the point in saying much.

He is inscrutable and at peace (his only recorded outburst, which made the pages of the Spanish newspapers, was when another rider accidentally trod on his stockinged foot). The big attraction for the growing lad was the sandwich and drink the finishers received. He tried his hand at basketball, and in athletics his long legs carried him to the 400 metres title in the Navarre championships. He was the country boy, a mother's ideal son, the hero of a nation, but he was always humble.