Indurain set on sixth Tour de France

Cycling

Miguel Indurain, who over the past 13 years has established himself as the sport's most formidable athlete, has never been more under threat than this season, which began yesterday in the south of France.

The indomitable Spaniard, who became only the fourth man to win five Tours de France last summer, has set himself the double target of a record- breaking sixth triumph - upstaging Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault - and Olympic gold. The professionals go to Atlanta to compete in the Games for the first time, 10 days after the Tour ends.

Standing in his path to this unique achievement are Abraham Olano, the road world champion, Laurent Jalabert, the world No 1, the Swiss riders Tony Rominger and Alex Zulle and Russians Yevgeny Berzin and Vladislav Bobrik.

Indurain will be 32 when the Tour - which should favour climbers this year rather than time-trial specialists like the Spaniard - reaches the Pyrenees on 16 July. He will be acutely aware that of all the sport's giants, only the Italian Fausto Coppi won the Tour at the age of 32. Hinault gave up at 31, Anquetil and Louison Bobet at 30, Merckx and Greg LeMond at 29.

For that reason, the veteran Rominger may also find success in the Tour beyond him. The Swiss, runner-up to Indurain in 1993, will be 35 when the Tour reaches Paris on 21 July and only one man, Firmin Lambot, was older when he won the race, in 1922, at the age of 36.

Rominger, the one-hour world record holder, plans to miss the Giro d'Italia, which he won last year in Indurain's absence, to concentrate on the Tour de France. Indurain will again miss the Italian race but may compete in the Tour of Spain.

For the Briton Chris Boardman, whose 1995 season ended in a crash in the Tour de France prologue, this season will present a compelling challenge in a career that has so far dazzled only on the track.