It was in those lands of deep Colombia, jungle and forests around Duitama, the Alto del Cogollo, the threatening guerrilla, the guitar of coach Pepe Grande, the flat tire, where Miguel Induráin and Abraham Olano forged an inevitable couple forever. The 1995 Cycling World Cup, Olano’s gold, Induráin’s punch, Pantani’s podium, Tunja’s time trial, and then the controversy, the two Spains and the heir that could never be.
That October of 1995, with journalists arriving in Duitama in rented taxis or each one how they could to the beautiful capital of the Boyacá region, was the history of sports in Spain. There was a sun god Induráin prepared for the triple crown time trial-road-record of the hour, and a dolphin with dreams, the victorious Olano with a flat tire.
From there arose a rivalry that conditioned Spanish cycling, but not an enmity, since Induráin’s peaceful character and Olano’s love of peace did not make it possible. Almost thirty years later, both run together again. In the Titan Desert, the desert adventure.
In that World Cup, the pioneers of current cycling José Miguel Echávarri and Eusebio Unzué planned a colossal challenge based in Colombia. Gold on the road (Duitama), gold in the time trial (Tunja) and the hour record (Bogotá).
While the Tour of Spain was being held, won by Laurent Jalabert, Induráin had concentrated weeks before in Colorado (United States) together with part of his direct collaborators (his masseuse Vicente Iza, the doctor Sabina Padilla, the cyclists Chava Jiménez and Santi Blanco) to prepare the Colombian assault.
The then coach Pepe Grande never saw himself in a similar situation. Induráin, the main favorite to win the World Cup in a giant company, and his theoretical successor Abraham Olano, who was second in Vuelta 95.
The team, which included runners such as Marino Alonso, Aitor Garmendia, Marcos Serrano, Blanco, González Arrieta, Mauleón, Escartín and Chava, went out every day to train with a police escort due to the close presence of the FARC guerrillas from a hotel in which the press also stayed and access to the corridors had nothing to do with the current regime of communication directors. At night, the coach Pepe Grande entertained the evening by playing the guitar.
Everything was ready for the coronation of Induráin, who had already won gold in the time trial with Olano silver behind him, but within the team there was a hidden ambition. “The favorite is me,” said Olano in a pre-road race interview on ABC.
Induráin, Olano and Pantani, on the podium of the Colombia 95 World Cup
Olano fulfilled his prediction by taking advantage of the iron marking of the Italians (Pantani), the Swiss (Pascal Richard) and the Colombians (Rincón) to Induráin and his majestic figure. Olano’s walk down the main avenue of Duitama at 10:30 p.m. in Spain (mid-afternoon in Colombia) with the blowout in the tire fastened firmly to the rim by the mechanic Alejandro Torralbo provided a strange joy in Spain: we had the gold, but not on the neck of Induráin.
The celebration had a sour aroma because the plan was designed for the giant from Navarra and the winner was his dolphin. Then Induráin refused to attempt a second test of the hour record (he failed in the first), he began to feel uncomfortable at Banesto with Echávarri and Unzué, lost Tour 96 to Riis and retired from cycling at the Capitán de Cangas de Onís, abandoned in the Tour that did not want to run. Induráin won five Tours, no Vuelta.
In Colombia a false rivalry arose, which never existed. Induráin and Olano hardly coincided on the roads later, only one season (1996). AND there was no enmitybut distance in the treatment hindered by the circumstances.
As an ex-cyclist, Induráin (58 years old) He chose to live off the income and approach only the initiatives that seduced him. Olano (53 years old) has had to work. He was the technical director of the Vuelta a España from 2004 to 2013. He has been the national coach of Gabon, he is still related to cycling.
Both, now in their fifties, meet again in cycling. It will be in the Titan Desert (April 30 to May 5), the route through the desert that is held in Saudi Arabia.