Big Mig dominated the Tour de France in the early 1990s – winning the race five years on the bounce from 1991 to 1995, during which time he also won the Giro d’Italia twice.

The Spaniard, who celebrated his 50th birthday last year was famed for his strength against the clock – winning the world time trial championship in 1995 and claiming gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in the discipline.

He had already affirmed his time trial pedigree the year before when he conquered the hour record at the height of his dominance, riding 53.040km at Bordeaux’s Velodrome du Lac.

In doing so, Indurain became the first man to take the record beyond 53km and though his record only stood for seven weeks before Tony Rominger broke it again, he remains the last man to have been both Tour champion and hour record holder at the same time.

Indurain’s Banesto team, incidentally, went on to become Movistar with team manager Eusebio Unzue going on to experience more hour record success thanks to Britain’s Alex Dowsett, who held the record until Wiggins’ attempt.