Indurain, Bugno and Chiappucci at the Sports Festival

The champions who marked the 90s of cycling sit around a table on the stage of the Santa Chiara Auditorium, gathered for the Trento Festival in an evening that recalls that time: “When we were kings”. They really were. It is a table set with a checked tablecloth, bread and wine, as is done among friends. “We call it Bar Bondone, because here there are three champions, but above all three friends”, is how the deputy director of the Gazzetta dello Sport Pier Bergonzi introduces them. The chat is a show punctuated by memories. “You should have won the 1990 Tour”, Bugno and Indurain remind Chiappucci. El Diablo sketches. “That’s how it happened.”

and myths

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Here they are, then, the kings. Miguel Indurain, eternal legend of cycling: five Tours de France (1991-1995), Giro d’Italia for two consecutive years (1992 and 1993), as well as world time trial champion (1995). “But I miss the Vuelta – because it was raced in April and I suffered from the cold and the pollen – and I miss a World Championship”, recalls the Spaniard. Whoever won the World Cup is sitting next to him. Gianni Bugno won everywhere in those years: triumphant in the Giro d’Italia (holding the jersey from the first stage in Bari to the last in Milan, one of the four to have done so with Merckx, Binda and Girardengo) and Milan-Sanremo (1990), road world champion in the following two years. “But I lost the 1991 Tour – Bugno laughs – I had prepared to win it, but he was there…”. And he points to Indurain. “I won it – says the Spaniard – also thanks to Chiappucci”. A monarch, Indurain. A champion who remembers as his best moment “My first Tour in 1991, in front of my idol, Bernard Hinault”. Indurain was a great strategist. “I have always managed my strength thinking about the next day and the final ranking.” Here is a photo that smells of nostalgia. The podium of the 1991 Tour. 1st Indurain, 2nd Bugno, 3rd Chiappucci. “One day – recalls Indurain – a teammate says to me: look, Chiappucci is on the run. And I say to him: it’s not my problem, go and get him, come on!”.

bows (classy)

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The following year – 1992 Tour – Indurain first again, then Chiappucci, then Bugno. That was also the year of Bugno’s second World Cup, in Benidorm, Spain, at Indurain’s home. And Bugno, with the victory certified after an extraordinary sprint, said: “I’m sorry for Indurain”. The caress now belongs to the Spaniard: “I liked Bugno’s class and when he faced the sprint, he was unbeatable there. And I was impressed by Chiappucci’s courage”. It’s Chiappucci’s turn: “We envy Miguel the time trial and then the great tranquility.” Here’s Bugno: “Indurain was the greatest champion I saw, the best ever.” In the end they play to give votes to each other. “But what grades did you give me? – Chiappucci pretends to get angry – I wasn’t that bad at the time trial”, Chappucci pretends to get angry. Brief round of comments on current events. Everyone agrees on Pogacar. “It’s the best,” the three say in unison. Indurain ventures: “He will still win a lot, but Mercks is still from another planet.” And Bugno: “Miguel at least made us win something, Pogacar instead wins everything. In fact he doesn’t win, he wins overwhelmingly. The only one who can challenge him on the stage race is Vingegaard”. Chiappucci: “I’m struck by his bravado. He has enormous belief in his abilities.” When they were kings. Indurain, Bugno, Chiappucci. Three champions, three friends.