Indurain Still the One to Beat in Tour de France

Miguel Indurain knows his cycling career has been brilliant. What’s left is to add extra luster, which he fully expects to do by winning the Tour de France for an unprecedented sixth consecutive time.

“To win the Tour once is to make history. I’m here to continue my streak,” the Spaniard said Friday in this small southern Dutch town, where the three-week, 2,418-mile event starts this year.

Indurain has turned the sport’s most prestigious event into his personal domain, though a stiff challenge may be expected from rivals such as Laurent Jalabert of France and his onetime teammate, Alex Zulle of Switzerland, last year’s Tour runner-up.

Den Bosch is host for today’s 5.8-mile prologue, in which Indurain will challenge Olympic pursuit champion Chris Boardman and 1994 Tour of Italy winner Yevgeny Berzin.

The historic cathedral town also is the site of Sunday’s 129.6-mile first stage, and the start of Monday’s second, which will take the riders out of the Netherlands, through Belgium and into France.