TOUR DE FRANCE : Indurain Loses Time Trial but Should Win the Race

Miguel Indurain of Spain, despite losing a time trial Saturday, headed toward Paris all but assured of winning his third consecutive Tour de France today.

Tony Rominger of Switzerland upset Indurain in the individual time trial with a time of 57 minutes 2 seconds in the 30-mile 19th stage, 42 seconds better than that of Indurain, who lost his first major time trial in three years.

The performance moved Rominger into second place, but he was still 4:59 behind Indurain as the race headed toward its conclusion with a relaxed stage of 122 miles.

Zenon Jaskula of Poland was third in the time trial and third in the overall standings. He was 5:46 behind Indurain.

Alvaro Mejia of Colombia dropped from second to fourth, 7:29 behind, losing more than three minutes to the leaders.

American Andy Hampsten, Mejia’s teammate, was in eighth, 20:14 behind.

Rominger, who had been plagued by bad luck throughout the Tour, had a flat tire in the last two miles on Saturday.

The Swiss cyclist had lost time during the team time trial and was penalized a minute more for pushing his teammates. He had to ride early in the first time trial and wound up in a hailstorm and had another flat tire. He was 2:42 behind Indurain there.

Rominger came back to win two stages in the Alps and tried to pull away from Indurain in the mountains, but he was not able to beat the Spanish rider until Saturday.

“If it wasn’t for that lost time, I might have been equal to Indurain,” Rominger said. “The race would have been changed.”

Indurain had not lost a time trial since the 1990 Tour de France, when Greg LeMond overtook Claudio Chiappucci to vault into first and win his third Tour de France.

Standings

A look at the standings in the Tour de France heading into today’s final stage:

* 1. Miguel Indurain, Spain 90:29:49

* 2. Tony Rominger, Switzerland 4:59 behind

* 3. Zenon Jaskula, Poland 5:46

* 4. Alvaro Mejia, Colombia 7:29

* 5. Bjarne Riis, Denmark 16:26

* 6. Claudio Chiappucci, Italy 17:18

* 7. Johan Bruyneel, Belgium 18:04

* 8. Andrew Hampsten, U.S. 20:14

* 9. Pedro Delgado, Spain 23:57

* 10. Vladimir Poulnikov, Ukraine 25:29