TOUR DE FRANCE : Indurain Set to Win Fifth Title

Unwavering consistency through three weeks’ of cycling has left Miguel Indurain of Spain on the verge of winning his record fifth Tour de France in a row.

Even with victory in the sport’s premiere event seemingly assured, Indurain extended his overall lead by winning the individual time trial in Saturday’s 19th stage.

Indurain took the 29-mile stage around Lac de Vassiviere in 57 minutes, 34 seconds, better than Bjarne Riis of Denmark by 48 seconds and Tony Rominger by 1:05.

Overall, Indurain has a lead of 4:35 over Alex Zulle of Switzerland, with Riis at 6:47 behind.

Today’s stage is a largely ceremonial 96-mile ride from St. Genevieve des Bois to Paris, ending on the Champs Elysees. Barring accident, Indurain should clinch the title.

Eddy Merckx of Belgium and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have also won five Tours, but Indurain would be the first to do so in consecutive years.

Riis was only 12 seconds behind Indurain in the first time trial two weeks ago, suggesting that Indurain might have competition along the road.

It didn’t happen.

“It’s consistency that makes the difference,” he said. “I didn’t fall in the first week, I attacked in the weekend in Belgium and was always there on the key moments in the mountains and the time trial.”

Indurain has been in control all the way. In the first week, the day before a time trial, he made a surprise attack that added one minute to his lead.

In the mountains, he would let his teammates pace him, then take over in the final climb to minimize the margins and increase the lead over his major rivals.

Zulle looks to be the fifth different runner-up, following Italians Gianni Bugno and Claudio Chiappucci in 1991 and 1992, respectively, Rominger of Switzerland in 1993 and Piotr Ugrumov of Latvia last year.