Miguel Indurain time trial bike for sale — a snip at just under 50 grand

Want to own a piece of cycling history? This bike is one of Miguel Indurain's machines from the year he began his five-years of total domination of the Tour de France. It can be yours for a mere $75,000 (£47,000)

According to the seller, the bike was built for Indurain's Banesto team when Pinarello returned as bike supplier in 1992.

Indurain won the time trial stage of the Tour of Romandy in 1992 on the bike and then Pinarello supplied the new bikes for the team and this one went into retirement in Indurain's personal collection, which is where most of his bikes remain.

But this one escaped into the wild when Indurain donated it for a charity raffle to raise funds to restore the church of San Juan in Cabra, Spain.

In 2010, Indurain signed the rear wheel at the opening of a bike lane and said he was pleased to see how well the bike had been looked after.

The bike is very much a machine that reflects its era and its rider. Indurain was famous for his time-trialling ability, churning over those 180mm Campagnolo cranks and 55/47 chainrings to ferocious effect.

The bike has a smaller front wheel, a fashion now outlawed by the UCI; not that anyone who buys this bike is likely to enter any races on it.

Now it's up for sale, and Indurain's bikes are sufficiently rare that the seller seems confident it's worth that rather eye-watering price tag.

If that's a bit rich for you, though, a skim of eBay's vintage bikes section reveals gems like this 1982 Colnago for a mere $22,222.22 or another Banesto Pinarello from 1995 — this time without the certainty it was used by Indurain, so it's a snip at $3,500.