1990 TOUR De FRANCE
No miracle, just the measured effort of a confident Tour champion BY CHARLES HOWE Critics have derided Greg LeMond for a lack of panache in winning the 1990 Tour de France, but it actually provides an agreeable counterpoint to the previous year’s high drama, building with a slow but sure inevitability and showcasing LeMond at his best – loyal, patient, decisive, vigilant, aggressive, tactically astute, and able to do what it took to win – while providing plenty of excitement and plot twists of its own. The pattern for much of the race was set on the first full stage, where the winning break of Frans Maassen, Ronan Pensec, Claudio Chiappucci, and Steve Bauer finished 10:28 ahead of LeMond and the other favorites. Each of the four would have his day in the sun – first Maassen, with the stage win, and then Bauer, who donned the yellow jersey for the second time in his career. With the kind of form he had for the 1988 Tour, when he finished fourth, and with the stronger support of the 7-11 team, it seemed possible that Bauer might keep the jersey all the way to Paris. Showing enormous class, Raul Alcala dominated the first long time trial, held on a fast, rain-slicked point-to- point course, to become the first Mexican to win a Tour stage: Stage 7, Vittel – Epinal ITT 1. Raul Alcala, 61.5 km in 1:17:05 (47.9 km/h) 2. Miguel Indurain, at 1:24 3. Giani Bugno, at 1:47 4. Pedro Delgado, at 2:05 5.
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