The 1992 Tour was an unusually difficult edition, as it contained
eight mountain stages. A typical Tour de France will contain six
stages in the mountains. In ’ 92 the race practically started in the
mountains. Following the opening prologue, the riders spent two
days in the Pyrenees. The next eight stages included six flat stages
and two time trials. The first time trial was for the teams, where
all nine riders work together—in those days often averaging 30 mph
for more than 40 miles; the second time trial was for individual
riders. The flat stages, by contrast, had been largely dominated by
sprinters as the pack stayed together over the flat roads of France,
Belgium and the Netherlands. And while these roads were called
flat, some of them would prove to be quite hilly to you or me. In
the eyes of the Tour de France, anything a pro cyclist could climb
in less than five minutes didn’t merit mention.
When the peloton left Saint Gervais on
the morning of July 18, the riders were
beginning their third of six straight
days in the Alpes. The previous two
stages had been 155 and 166 miles,
respectively. Lucky number 13 would
be an equally grueling 158 miles. For
a car on the freeway at legal speeds
we’re only talking about 2. 5 hours
or so, but when you throw mountain
roads in there you’re looking at more
like four hours, and that’s only if you
don’t mind making your passenger
sick as you speed up and down those
winding roads. For the world’s greatest
pros, each of these days would mean
six to seven hours in the saddle.
Chiappucci was in his ascendancy.
He had risen from anonymity to the
yellow jersey in the 1990 Tour de
France. He was one of four men who
formed a now legendary breakaway
on the race’s first stage. The quartet
included the Canadian rider, Steve
Bauer, who was a legitimate threat
to take the race lead; in 1987 he
had finished the race fourth overall.
Everyone looked to the previous year’s
winner, Greg LeMond, to send his
team to the front to shut down the
Bauer-led breakaway. However, the
race leader was Thierry Marie, who
had won the previous day’s prologue.
There is a complicated formula by
which one determines the team
saddled with the responsibility of
chasing down a breakaway. On flat
stages typically won by sprinters, it
falls to the sprinters’ teams to mount
the chase. LeMond believed it was
their duty. When it doesn’t fall to
the sprinters’ teams is when the race
leader stands to lose something. With
Bauer up the road, many thought
that LeMond should be concerned.
But Marie was a teammate of rival
Laurent Fignon. Fignon’s Castorama
team knew that they would be riding
for Fignon, their star rider and
dedicated team leader; Marie was a
talented prologue specialist and the
team had no intention of protecting
his leader’s maillot jaune. While the
breakaway picked up time, the field
looked to LeMond, and he looked to
Castorama and the sprinters’ teams
… and called their bluff. Bauer,
Chiappucci and the others finished
with 10 minutes in hand.
LeMond would spend the rest of
the race clawing back each of those
10 minutes, ultimately winning the
race by just two minutes and change.
Chiappucci would stun the world by
finishing second to the American.
The following year, when LeMond
finished seventh, Chiappucci finished
third. So when the 1992 Tour rolled
from the start in San Sebastian,
Spain, Chiappucci was no longer a
pawn or even a wild card, he was a
legitimate contender.
Near the top of the first of six climbs
that day, Chiappucci took off with 15
other riders. The Italian was leading
the king of the mountains competition
and wanted to protect his lead. After
passing under the banner at the top of
the mountain, Chiappucci attacked,
forcing a real breakaway. Among the
riders in the group was Frenchman,
Richard Virenque, a talented climber
with an ambition to wear the climber’s
polka-dot jersey. This would not be his
year, but Chiappucci didn’t know that;
he needed to protect his jersey.
It was not unusual for a talented but
inconsequential climber to take off
early in the day. It was a chance to
gain valuable TV time for sponsors
and every blue moon or so one of these
breakaways would work. But for a guy
lying seventh overall, this was a move
as suicidal as trying to fly to Bangkok
by hanging onto the wing of a 747. It
was not only certain not to work, it
threatened to knock Chiappucci from
his slot in the top 10.
