Why didn't Indurain win Paris-Roubaix?

[MattTuck]

Seems as if his body and physiology would have been more suited to winning Paris-Roubaix multiple times than a grand tour.

He was a bit before my time, so not sure if there were team issues or something else going on at the time that kept him away from the velodrome... maybe more races were ending in sprints during that period?

[Wilkinson4]

The Banesto team just wasn't setup for that. Not a priority...I don't think a Spaniard has ever won PR.

Here is his 1993 squad:

http://www.cyclingfever.com/team.html?team_idd=MTQyMg==

mIKE

[jr59]

Didn't pedal fast enough! :banana: :cool:

[FlashUNC]

You'd need to race in the thing to win it.

That and the Spanish generally seem to have no desire to participate in the cobbled classics.

[BdaGhisallo]

Indurain raced in the days before the ProTour structure and its obligations on teams to race a given calendar of events. In those days you rarely saw any spanish teams show their faces at Roubaix or the other cobbled classics. When they started to out of contractual obligations, they would often ride as far as the first feed and pack it in en masse.

Back in the 80s and early 90s, the cobbled classics would see a varied mix of teams competing. You would get the equivalent of today's ProTour teams along with teams that today would be considered Pro Continental. You would see small Belgian teams that never raced outside of the Low Countries and Northern France.

Additionally, Indurain was too valuable to risk on the cobbles. He used to ride the Ardennes classics, but never the cobbled ones. LeMond was the last TdF winner that really put any effort into the cobbled classics.

[weiwentg]

PR is equaly about skill. It's a skillset that's completely different from Grand Tours. Mig could have had the body type and the dope to win, but he never built the skill set.

[BobbyJones]

Jesus Christ. Is every answer on Paceline about a pro from here on out going to have "dope" in it?

You'd think these guys ran over your dog or something.

FWIW - With his natural ability, it more to do with "priority" vs "building a skill set". See all of the answers above yours.

PR is equaly about skill. It's a skillset that's completely different from Grand Tours. Mig could have had the body type and the dope to win, but he never built the skill set.

[JonB]

Before the protour, the Spanish riders didn't give a rip about northern races. They had plenty of Spanish stage races to compete in.

Tour of the Basque Country
Setmana Catalana
Volta a Catalunya
Vuelta a Asturias
Vuelta a Castilla y León

and don't forget that until 1994 the Tour of Spain was held in Spring.

Look at Indurain's palmares and you'll see that he competed in, and won many of these races.

As a sidenote, he did win the Spanish "Classic"...Classica San Sebastian.

[mike p]

Spanish team, Spanish riders = mountains. Paris-Roubaix doesn't even have hills!

Mike

[bluesea]

I'm sure glad Juan Antonio Flecha isn't Spanish. :confused:

[soupless]

He's the outlier.

[ultraman6970]

Well probably he consider himself italian as all the argentinians hehehe :D

No joke, argentina had excelent riders that never made it to europe, specially the tracker ones.

I'm sure glad Juan Antonio Flecha isn't Spanish. :confused:

[ultraman6970]

Forgot this, IMO to win a classic is really hard because you have too many guys able to do it, besides since the big guy was able to get more money outta a long race than from a day classic, then to finish why to risk a fall then?

FC and others screwed up whole seasons in the P-R due to accidents.

[wallymann]

all down to mindset. spanish/latin hard-men like flecha are the exception.

[Salsa_Lover]

all down to mindset. spanish/latin hard-men like flecha are the exception.

Latins like to ride up sunny hills, mountains and lake/sea shores.

Only Belgians could enjoy riding on muddy wet stony roads

[R2D2]

Latins like to ride up sunny hills, mountains and lake/sea shores.

Only Belgians could enjoy riding on muddy wet stony roads

Don't forget the Dutch who are masters of the echelon.

[Grant McLean]

and don't forget that until 1994 the Tour of Spain was held in Spring.


That's the main reason Spanish riders didn't focus on the one day
northern spring classics, back in the 80s and 90s.

They were preparing for the Vuelta, started the 3rd week of April
(up until it moved to September in 1995) which is only two weeks
after Paris Roubaix. The chance of a crash taking a Spanish contender
out of the Grand Tour prevented many riders from racing roubaix,
it could have ruined their whole season.

Since 2005, Juan Antonio Flecha has been in the top 10 something
like 8 times. Roubaix is such a special race, a handful of riders
have dominated it in the era when they were on top. Hard for
others to be that kind of specialist without a chance of beating
the 3 or 4 guys that seem to be there every year.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Antonio_Flecha

-g

[jlwdm]

I don't think it was a race for Indurain any way. He was an excellent time trialist and kept is steady pace in the mountains. He had no sprint and was not so great at accelerating when needed.

Jeff

[bluesea]

Speaking of Le Mond, don't forget that Laurent Fignon had also put in some hard rides in P-R.

[carpediemracing]

I distinctly recall Indurain in the thick of action of some spring classic, albeit all bundled up, maybe LBL or a Flèche.

I don't think he rode the Vuelta a lot. I only remember that in his last year he started the Vuelta reluctantly and dropped out quickly.

Indurain, in his prime, could do a good one day race. He got second at least twice at Worlds, one was a 4 way sprint (Meija was 4th, I don't remember the others, maybe Rooks and Bugno), one was leading Pantani and.... the Saunier Duval director I think, behind Olano who won solo on a flat tire.

Back in those days Spaniards didn't do PR, not willingly. Heck, even Hinault didn't do it after he proved he could win it.

[fiamme red]

I distinctly recall Indurain in the thick of action of some spring classic, albeit all bundled up, maybe LBL or a Flèche.Here's Indurain finishing fourth (out of a group of four) in the 1991 L-B-L:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Z84OUzEos

He also took fourth in the 1990 Fleche Wallonne. He was later awarded third place because Theunisse, who had finished third, tested positive.

[RonW87]

Two thoughts after watching that vid:

1. All very classy-looking riders. Compare positions with Froome!

2. Indurain: All Spanish, no finish.

R.

[William]

Spanish team, Spanish riders = mountains. Paris-Roubaix doesn't even have hills!

Mike

Spanish team, Spanish riders = excel in the heat, not so much the cold. At least that was one explanation used at the time.






William

[Charles M]

Hot and cold didnt bother Mig... He didnt give a rats ass about PR.

[choke]

He got second at least twice at Worlds, one was a 4 way sprint (Meija was 4th, I don't remember the others, maybe Rooks and Bugno), one was leading Pantani and.... the Saunier Duval director I think, behind Olano who won solo on a flat tire.In 1991 he was third behind Bugno and Rooks. However, he did place 2nd in '93 behind that guy from Texas as well as the one behind Olano.

[earlfoss]

The Banesto jersey would have looked way out of place at the head of P-R. Euskatel too for that matter!