Favorite Tour Moments: 1989...

Big Mig during 1988

I chose to add this one to the list, not because it was especially dramatic as far as mountain stages of the Tour go, but because of what it would prove to portend for the future. The 9th stage of the 1989 Tour was 147 km long starting a Pau, climbed the Col du Marie Blanc and Col du Aubisque, and ended with a mountaintop finish at Cauterets in the Pyrenees. This was Miguel Indurain's first stage win in the Tour de France, and served as a warning preview of the dominant fashion with which he would win his five consecutive Tour titles. Indurain began his conquest on the slopes of the Aubisque when he rode away from the Tour's main contenders, who included Greg LeMond and Laurent Fingnon.

With sheer power Indurain would ride competitors off his wheel during mountain stages (not to mention gaining huge time gaps during time trials). While he may have provided glimpses of his massive engine over the previous couple seasons while working for team leader, Pedro Delgado, this was the first proof of the damage he could inflict on the rest of the peloton when given free reign.