How to have paradise at your doorstep. This is how the Guipuzcoan lovers of cycling must have felt the day they The Tour de France left San Sebastián in 1992. 28 years ago, on July 4, the gala round started in the Donostia capital with a prologue stage that Miguel Indurain (Banesto) took. The Navarrese cyclist had won his first Tour a year earlier and was arriving at the best moment of his career after winning the Giro d’Italia months earlier.
Delivered to Indurain, the local fans crowded the streets of Donostia and excitedly celebrated their victory. It was just as difficult to find a hole to see the Navarrese in action as it was to move from one point to another in the city. The time trial circuit that started that Tour went through the Center and the Old. It started in Alderdi Eder and the finish line was at the height of the María Cristina hotel. It was eight kilometers without many curves on dry asphalt. Despite the first forecasts, the sunny weather reigned and it did not rain.
From nine o’clock in the morning the accesses to the city were closed for private vehicles that were diverted to dissuasive parking lots located at the entrances to San Sebastián, although at the moment of truth they did not even reach 50% of their occupation. What was used, and much, was public transport. People moved, especially, by train. The Topo de Easo station and the Norte station were overflowed throughout the day, with special attention between two-thirty and five-thirty.
Jean Van Popel at 16.10 was the first cyclist to enter the scene and it was necessary to wait until 19:27 to see the last runner roll. To the most expected. To Indurain. Banesto’s, dressed in yellow, did not disappoint. He completed the tour in a sigh. It took 9 minutes and 22 seconds between applause and encouragement from the spectators.
The next day the Tour started again and ended in the Gipuzkoan capital with a stage very similar to that of the Clásica. This time the goal was in the Kursaal and the French Dominique Arnould (Castorama) was the first to cross it. Indurain would lose the yellow jersey that day, but would retrieve it later. On July 6, 1992 the ‘Grande Boucle’ would repeat departure from San Sebastián, but this time heading to the Pyrenees. There were three days in which Donostia hosted the most important cycling event in the world. Five years later the World Cup would come. But that is another story.
.
