Читать книгу Etape. The untold stories of the Tour de France’s defining stages онлайн

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Boardman already knew it had been a good ride. ‘It was one of the very few moments in my entire career where I could not have done anything differently. It was perfect. They don’t hurt, you just can’t go any faster.’

He looks a little wistful as he adds: ‘I never got those conditions again.’

There’s no time to linger on Boardman in the aftermath of his ride; we see him freewheeling into a mass of bodies and disappearing. The camera flashes instead to an expressionless, yellow-jerseyed Indurain in the start house. Three seconds later, his countdown begins. Eight seconds after Boardman finishes, he starts.

Indurain, the last of the 189 riders, hammers around the course. His time trialling had let him down at the recent Tour of Italy, where he finished second to Evgeni Berzin. But now he looks formidable. Whereas Boardman was compact and bullet-like, Indurain is a blunt instrument: he bludgeons his way through Lille’s broad boulevards. He gets out of the saddle: a rare sight. His mouth is open, gasping for air: also a rare spectacle. He’s usually so cool, so impassive. Finally he appears, swinging around the final bend, on the brink of his third consecutive prologue victory – or is he? The clock reads 7:40. ‘It’s a long, long way to go, Miguel,’ Liggett’s voice crackles with emotion.