In 1984 he rode in the Olympic Games at Los Angeles and then turned professional on 4 September He won his first professional race a week later, a time trial in the
Tour de l'Avenir. In 1985 he started the
Vuelta a España and came second in the prologue, behind
Bert Oosterbosch. Oosterbosch lost time on the second stage and Induráin became leader, the youngest rider to do so. He rode the
Tour de France later that year, as he would do in each of the next 11 years, but dropped out in the fourth stage. In 1986, Induráin again rode the Tour, dropping out on the 12th stage. He rode the
1988 Tour de France as teammate of the winner
Pedro Delgado. In 1989, he escaped during the ninth stage of the Tour de France. He won the stage and became leader of the
mountains classification, wearing the polkadot jersey the next stage, the only time in his career. In 1990, Induráin rode the Tour de France again for Delgado, but Delgado could not win. Induráin finished 10th place, sacrificing several places by waiting for Delgado. Induráin was a strong
time trialist, gaining on rivals and riding defensively in the climbing stages. Induráin won only two Tour stages that were not
individual time trials: mountain stages to
Cauterets (1989) and
Luz Ardiden (1990) in the
Pyrenees. During his five consecutive Tour de France wins he never won a stage that was not a time trial. These superior abilities in the discipline fit perfectly with the TT heavy Tours of the era, with many featuring between 150 and 200 km of time trialling vs the more common 50–80 km today.
1991: First Tour win In 1991,
Greg LeMond was favourite for the Tour and while Induráin was a fine time trialist he was considered too large to be a good climber. LeMond led the race until the 12th stage but on the 13th he broke down on the Tourmalet, and lost more than seven minutes to Induráin, who became the leader and stayed leader to the end.
1992: Tour-Giro double Induráin won the prologue at
San Sebastián and seized the yellow jersey, only to lose it the next day. Induráin finished the time trial in stage nine, over 65 km, three minutes ahead of number two on the stage. Near the end he caught
Laurent Fignon, who had started six minutes before him. The
1992 Tour was remarkable for a long breakaway by
Claudio Chiappucci on a stage to
Sestriere that included six mountains. Induráin seemed to crack on the final climb to Sestriere being passed by
Franco Vona but managed to finish third, enough to claim the yellow jersey once more. From here Induráin would establish his racing style "crush rivals in the time trials and control them in the mountains" His defensive tactic brought criticism from Induráin's boyhood hero, Bernard Hinault, who said: "Induráin is the best rider of his generation but he has won this Tour quietly, without great opposition. If the opposition continues to let him get away with it, his reign looks like lasting a long time". He also won the
Giro d'Italia in 1992. After winning the early time trial, Induráin gained a decisive advantage on stage 9 to Latina-Terminillo. There, on the first summit finish of the race, Induráin finished in the first group, dropping the main contenders, and gaining 30 seconds on Chiappucci. On his way to overall victory by 5mins 12secs over Chiappucci, Induráin also won the final stage 21 time trial.
1993: Second Tour-Giro double Induráin rode the same way in the
1993 Tour. He won the prologue at Puy-du-Fou, in the Vendée region, and waited until the ninth stage, the 59 km time trial at Lac de Madine, to take control of the race. He won by 2m 11s. Induráin entered the Giro again, but this time was beaten by
Evgeni Berzin and
Marco Pantani, who had prepared solely for the Giro. In May 1994, Induráin tested positive for
salbutamol following the ''
Tour de L'Oise'' in France. Though the
β2-adrenergic agonist, found in nasal inhalers, was on the controlled substances list of both the
IOC and
UCI, both organizations permitted sportsmen with
asthma to use it. However, in France there was an outright ban on its use. The IOC agreed with the UCI that Induráin would not be punished for using a drug banned outright in France because they accepted the salbutamol was contained in a nasal inhaler he had been using legitimately to aid his respiration. In Spain, the incident was interpreted as another case of the French attempting to hinder Induráin's domination of the sport.
1995: Fifth Tour victory He also won the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1995. Induráin won the
world time trial championship.
1996: Aiming for sixth Tour victory He also won the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1996. He dropped out of the group and lost three minutes in three kilometres. Race referees penalised him 20 seconds for accepting a bottle of drink in the last kilometre. He said the 20 seconds were nothing compared to the minute he would have lost had he not taken the bottle. In the
road race, he finished 26th. In September 1996, Induráin rode the
Vuelta a España at the insistence of his team. He dropped out unexpectedly on the Mirador del Fito, Relations with his team manager,
José Miguel Echavarri, had been difficult since an aborted attempt on the hour record in
Colombia in October 1995. The two are no longer on speaking terms. == Retirement ==