Ruthlessly, almost heartlessly, the 32-year-old crushed the Spaniard and his other few remaining rivals with a stunning ride to victory on the 13-kilometer climb, reaching grades of eight percent, to the Pyrenean ski resort of Hautacam. If today had been expected to be the day of the Indurain comeback, then such hopes proved forlorn. On another day of bright, hot sunshine, the field left Agen with the snow-capped Pyrenean peaks sparkling in the heat haze. After 30 kilometers, an attack of three riders broke clear, as Pascal Richard of MG/Technogym, TVM’s Laurent Roux, and Mariano Piccoli of Brescialat combined to open up a gap on the main field. Their lead had climbed to 7:30 when Festina, Polti and Carrera set about chasing.
Forty-six kilometers from the finish, Richard and Piccoli had fallen back, and Roux, a consistent attacker over the last week, was alone ahead of the race, with a lead of 4:30 on the peloton. But although the 23-year-old Frenchman tried his hardest, the Festina team’s high pace was always likely to reel him in, and just 11 kilometers from the summit Alex Zulle, making a vain sortie off the front, pulled the peloton past him.
The stage was set for Riis. When it came, the Telekom leader’s solo break saw the great Spaniard finish a broken champion, while the likes of Evgeni Berzin, Richard Virenque, and Luc Leblanc found themselves cut equally adrift. For the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards lining the route, the sight of Indurain, dropped by all the main favorites except Berzin, battling weakly to limit his losses, left them heartbroken at the road side.
Unthinkably, Riis had even had the audacity to take the Spaniard to his limits and then toy with him. As the gradient on the narrow climb steepened some seven kilometers from the finish, the Dane, finding himself at the front of the lead group, slowed to one side of the road, bemusing his peers, before dropping towards the rear of the group.
Then, as Indurain, Rominger, Berzin and Virenque looked around, he jumped away three times in succession, exploding the field and quickly opening up a 200-meter gap. Although Virenque, Laurent Dufaux, Leblanc and Peter Luttenberger fought to go with him, there was no holding the man in yellow. Tony Rominger, Berzin and Indurain were immediately dropped, while Abraham Olano and Jan Ullrich battled to get up to the chasing group. Five kilometers from the finish, Indurain was 45 seconds behind Riis while Rominger slowly recovered.
Moments later, the Swiss passed Indurain as if he were standing still. With his head lolling in despair, it was clear that his sixth successive Tour win was beyond him, and even the exhortations of Jose Miguel Echavarri, at the wheel of the Banesto team car, failed to elicit any response. With Dufaux leading Virenque in the chasing foursome, it looked as if Riis might be pegged back, but his lead was well over half a minute as he entered the final two kilometers. Rominger, meanwhile, had caught and moved to the front of Olano’s group, but whether it was to work for the interests of his Spanish teammate or his own was unclear.
Ahead of them, with one massive final effort, Riis rode into the finishing straight sprinting out of the saddle. Looking every inch a Tour champion, the balding Dane raised his arms to take his second stage win of the Tour and confirm his emphatic superiority over the rest of this year’s Tour de France peloton. After what seemed an age, Indurain crossed the line in 12th place, a defeated man, but he still managed to gasp a few gracious words in praise of his Danish rival. "I gave it all I had today, but my legs just weren’t there," he admitted. "I still hope to be on the podium in Paris, but the victory is sure to go to Riis."
RESULTS
1. Bjarne Riis (Den), Telekom 199 km in 4:56:16
2. Richard Virenque (Fr), Festina at 0:49
3. Laurent Dufaux (Switz), Festina s.t.
4. Luc Leblanc (Fr), Polti 0:54
5. Leonardo Piepoli (It), Refin 0:57
6. Tony Rominger (Switz), Mapei/GB 1:33
7. Jan Ullrich (Ger), Telekom s.t.
8. Piotr Ugrumov (Rus), Roslotto s.t.
9. Laurent Brochard (Fr), Festina 1:41
10. Fernando Escartin (Sp), Kelme 1:46
11. Abraham Olano (Sp), Mapei/GB s.t.
12. Miguel Indurain (Sp), Banesto 2:38
13. Evgeni Berzin (Rus), Gewiss 2:59
14. Peter Luttenberger (Aus), Carrera 3:21
15. Patrick Jonker (Aust), ONCE 3:33
Abandons: Alessandro Bertolini (It), Brescialat
General Classification:
1. Bjarne Riis (Den), Telekom 74:08:26
2. Abraham Olano (Sp), Mapei/GB at 2:42
3. Tony Rominger (Switz), Mapei/GB 2:54
4. Jan Ullrich (Ger), Telekom 3:39
5. Richard Virenque (Fr), Festina 4:05
6. Evgeni Berzin (Rus), Gewiss 4:07
7. Laurent Dufaux (Switz), Festina 5:52
8. Peter Luttenberger (Aus), Carrera 5:59
9. Fernando Escartin (Sp), Kelme 7:03
10. Miguel Indurain (Sp), Banesto 7:16
Points Classification: Erik Zabel (Ger), Telekom
Mountains Classification: Richard Virenque (Fr), Festina