Spain’s Indurain Basks in Victory : Tour de France: Thousands of compatriots cheer him to finish in Paris. LeMond’s breakaway fails.

Few but cycling experts knew of Miguel Indurain before the Tour de France began July 6 in Lyon. But Indurain became better known when he took the yellow leader’s jersey from Greg LeMond in the Pyrenees on July 19.

Sunday, the 27-year-old Spaniard wore that yellow jersey along Paris’ Champs Elysees as he won the Tour for the first time.

Indurain won the title by more than three minutes over Gianni Bugno of Italy, with LeMond 13 minutes behind in seventh--his worst Tour finish ever. Andy Hampsten of Boulder, Colo., was eighth.

“I still am going to come to the Tour de France next year as the man to beat, with Indurain,” LeMond said. “As long as I’m racing, I’m going to come every time to the Tour with the intention of winning it.”

LeMond was third in 1984 and second in 1985 before winning in 1986, 1989 and 1990. He did not compete in 1987 and 1988.

Indurain said he was surprised by what happened to LeMond this year, “but I think it marked the Tour in two ways.”

“The first was at the beginning when LeMond took two minutes’ lead and managed to keep it. It was too much time for the other teams to catch up,” Indurain said. “But it was also a little bit of what contributed to LeMond losing this tour.

“He was the favorite, so we all attacked him--and physically as well as psychologically, he had too much pressure.”

A virus hurt LeMond in Val Louron, the 13th stage, when he dropped seven minutes to the leaders.

“I always felt confident about winning because my team was strong,” Indurain said.

“The only stage I felt I could have lost contact with other leaders is during the race to Morzine (Stage 18) in the Alps.”

On that stage, LeMond lost more than five minutes and conceded the Tour to Indurain as the “strongest cyclist in the Tour by far this year.”

The Tour’s final day has historically been a waltz into Paris. Cyclists pose for cameras and joke around until the final two circuits on the Champs Elysees. But Sunday’s culmination of 2,430 miles through France was a bit unique.

LeMond cut into the waltz by breaking away from the field of 157 with 41 miles remaining in the 110-mile race from Melun to Paris. He built up a 58-second lead and was the first to reach the Champs Elysees.

“Greg and I talked in the morning and our strategy was to break away before we reached Paris,” said Roger Legeay, coach of LeMond’s “Z” team. “Greg wanted to win a stage. This was his last chance. We didn’t know if the teams would permit it.”

The field responded by chasing LeMond down with seven of eight circuits remaining in the race.

As the field regrouped for the final 50 meters, Soviet Djmoline Abdoujaparov, sprinting furiously in an attempt to win his third stage, hit a barrier and was sent tumbling to the pavement, bringing four other riders with him at 35 m.p.h. He was hospitalized for treatment of a broken collarbone and a possible concussion. Abdoujaparov was wearing a helmet.

Soviet Dmitri Konyshev passed the hurdling bodies and won his second stage in four days with a time of 4 hours 43 minutes 36 seconds. LeMond was 30th.

Indurain was greeted by thousands of Spaniards waving national flags and flares at the finish on the Champs Elysees. Friday, El Periodico, a Madrid newspaper, reported that free rail passes would be granted by the government for those wishing to travel to Paris.

Indurain is a native of Villava, near Pamplona in the Basque country of northern Spain. Several hundred Villava residents, including Mayor Vicente Zabalza, Indurain’s parents and four brothers and the cyclist’s girlfriend, traveled to Paris by bus, train or private car.

Villava celebrated with sparkling wine, fireworks and pealing bells at the town’s only church.

“Champagne ran out in a short period of time,” said Fernando Asensio, owner of village restaurant.

Most of the 7,500 residents watched “Miguelon,” as Indurain’s neighbors call him, on television.

“We are deeply moved by my son’s feat,” Indurain’s father, Miguel, said from Paris over Spanish National Radio. “But our lives will not change.”

He said his son “is a cyclist thanks to a boy who stole his bike when he was 11 years old. ‘Don’t worry,’ I told him. ‘I will buy you a new racing bike.’ ”

The cyclist gave his yellow jersey to his mother, Isabel.

Adding to the celebration, a wine producing company in La Rioja, Spain’s red wine region, announced it will present Indurain with his weight (178 pounds) in its best vintage.

Reports from the Associated Press are included in this story.