How GOOD Was Greg LeMond REALLY? 

Greg only spoke out when Trek chose to focus on Lance and limit their support of Lemond Cycles which they had previously acquired. Greg never spoke out about the rampant doping going on in his own era which would have been impossible for him not to have known about. I bought a Lemond Zurich because of my admiration of him but felt he and his wife’s attack on Lance was purely financial sour grapes.

@@mamille1963 There may have been some but doping was not rampant back then. However...starting in 92 and 93 he did notice something was going on and has stated as much. He has said that he was flying and feeling as good and strong as he ever had yet others were flying by him like he was standing still. And not just one or two riders...but seemingly everyone. He also ntoiced that, like now, suddenly the entire peleton was able to stick together for a long way up all of the longer tougher climbs, whereas in prior tours the pack would quickly get strung out and the climbers quickly formed there breaks. Lance threatened to ruin all kinds of folks including LeMond...who never definitively accused him of doping. Lance was even willing to pay people to say LeMond was doping. Not a good guy. That said...I believe you have your timeline confused. When TREK found that LeMond was starting to questions lance, Trek pulled away from Him.

This is an accusation: July 15, 2004 PARIS (AFP) - Triple winner Greg LeMond has queried whether five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is as clean as he claims. LeMond, the first American to win the Tour, says just because Armstrong has never tested positive for banned substances does not necessarily prove he is not using drugs. "Everybody says that. But neither had David Millar tested positive and he now admits he took EPO," LeMond told Le Monde daily. From a 2014 Cycling News article "Maybe it's easier to ignore the scandals at PDM or the widespread use of cortisone in the 70s and 80s than accept the situation which existed when he was competing. Laurent Fignon's autobiography sets out the situation quite clearly, the culture of cheating existed and apparently in teams where Hinault worked, if we are to believe the confessions of retired riders. When you read that national federations were willing to blood dope their athletes at the Olympics and the never ending stream of positives for amphetamines, ephedrine and cortisone based medications before, during and after the Hinault era, then you realise that Armstrong didn't invent the doping problem. The problem was institutional." Cheating is cheating Greg could not stand being second fiddle to Lance and Trek stated as much in the lawsuit. He then started the accusations. You are correct about Trek distancing themselves AFTER the mudslinging. But based on what I have read I truly believe he wanted to knock Lance down a few pegs when Trek went all on Lance. I agree with you about him not being a nice guy. But that has nothing to do with his abilities. In a field full of dopers he was the best.

@@sprintn918 Doping as always been part of Cycling that is just one of those sad facts of this sport, it was how it was organised from the end of the 80' on a professional level with Team Doctors and Medical services. That really started with the Renault Team under Cyrille Guimard . Le Mound mentions in his Book about certain Cyclists vanishing off to special training camps and returning looking like completely different riders. Fignon in his book goes on about certain riders receiving brown paper bags while others did not. Remember Le Mound left PDM or wash sacked at the time and end up joining the low level ADR team in 1989. I knew a PDM Rider back then the official line was Greg's lack of form in early season races. But it later came out it was about PDM's doping program then taking. Greg however did not say anything at the time. The only Voice back then was the Irish Rider Paul Kimmage who who wrote a book and basically was branded a lier and never rode again as a professional rider but kept the fight going and spoke from for decades before Armstrong became the fall guy for the EPO erea of Cycling. Greg's may have quite PDM but he used them to his own benefit in winning the 1989 Tour his ADR was not strong enough to help him battle Fignon and System U .but with PDM riding high in the GC with Kelly then were the team in form to do all the chasing down of Fignon's attacks in the last days of the Mountains .Greg using his head again. From Greg and Fignon the real change came in the 91 Tour the EPO Tour for me . PDM were hit with a mystery illness officially food poisoning, these day most say it was bad blood doping that sidelined the whole team that year. The year that Donkeys started winning the tour Big mig for sure was juiced up as were the top half of the field. While all the former TDF winners were 10 minutes down Greg had won the Tour the year before and now struggled to hold the wheels in the mountains. With hindsight it was plain as day that there was rampant doping . Back then we all thought it was just progress.

@@mamille1963, I hear your point, and I'm sure money had something to do with it. But, as long as he himself was not doping (and I've never heard any evidence of that), I judge him less harshly for not speaking out about it going on around him during his career. He was already treated as an outsider by the European establishment - speaking out about doping at that moment would have been hard to do without destroying his career. But, I agree he should have said something after he retired.

👍👍👍

Greg is a nice guy too. Nothing like the other guy from Texas...

Same here, he inspired me to get into cycling!

I have had the pleasure of cycling with him on several occasions. Greg is a true gentleman and a champions champion.

Me too. I actually purchased my first road bike the summer of '86. It was raced in the Coors Classic that year (and possibly Worlds as I believe it was in C Springs that year.)

What, you don't think Lance Armstrong would have treated you the same way? You'd probably still be therapy, trying to recover.

Thanku for telling that .. lemond one of my heroes!! Always assume he'd be down to earth and pure class, no matter How great he was .U confirmed it !! Lemond living legend

I was watching that exact same broadcast, and did my first race a few months later... it was my passion for 30+ years of my life after...

The only reason I know of Greg Lemond was because of his cameo on Phineas and Ferb.

Imagine watching that race today with the kind of coverage we have now it would’ve been epic.

that is a great anecdote. when I was following Hinault and then the young LeMond, we relied almost exclusively on french cycling magazines! But you never forget how it all captured your imagination at the time.

I remember, when and where, too. I had just turned 20 and was watching in my parents’ kitchen. I jumped up and down and yelled myself hoarse. The only other time I’ve ever been that happy over a sporting result was Kirk Gibson’s home run the year before.

Awesome. God Bless.

Totally agree with you!!

Just as Peter Sagan showed up at an amateur MTB Over the Hump race in California after winning the Tour of California. He met with many racers, including my 16 year old son who was the season winner in Mens U30. A friend of ours took the photo of the two and posted it to Facebook, mentioning the Tour winner Peter & my son. My comment turned the story the 'other way' describing Tour winner Peter meeting with the16 year-old OTH Men's U30 winner - and Peter was gracious - he "liked" the comment.

I also had the great pleasure of riding with Greg up in Battenkill, NY on a benefit ride for his foundation to combat child abuse--which he had suffered from his uncle. Greg was gregarious, generous and had a photographic memory of most every turn of every European road he'd raced or trained on. He had huge enthusiasm for the bike and he really loved riding with his fans.

Hear hear!!

Yeah, I met him on two occasions. Once in a bike store, where he was speaking to a group. The second in France after the end of a Fall classic, my buddy and I saw him after the race and, showers, standing with Steve Bauer, just chatting. I called out to him, "hey Greg to you have time for a couple of Americans?" He said, "sure" and security let us pass. A genuine gentleman. I had been racing in France myself the summer he and Hiault had battled for the Tour. I was the only American on the team and there was some national pride and emotions at play, for sure.

@@markthomas207 Totally cool,I met him at two wheel transit in Huntington Beach back in the day. Great story of racing in Europe. Thanks

Lemond holds the 4th fastest time trial in history; his 1989 speed of 54.55km/hr over a 25KM distance was beaten by only 3 in the history of cycling: 2005 David Zabriskie on a shorter 19km course (3/4 distance of LeMond's stage and 16 years later). Zabriskie was a TT specialist who admitted to doping during the 2005 season when he beat Greg's time. 1994 Chris Boardman on just a 7KM prologue (almost 1/4 the distance of LeMond's stage and 5 years later): Chris Boardman, a 2-time Olympic medalist and 7-time Wold Championship medalist. Perhaps one of the most well-known TT specialists who pushed the envelope repeatedly in aero advancements 2015 Rohan Dennis on a short 13KM course (1/2 the distance of Lemond's stage and 26 years later). Dennis, a 14-time medalist in both the Olympics and World Champion races and modern-day aero wizard who has famously been kicked off teams for using a better/faster bike instead of his sponsored ride. Notable Riders Who LeMond Beat: Next let's consider the riders who LeMond beat in the history of fastest TT's (keep in mind many of these are decades later and bike/aero technology has advanced considerably since LeMond's record was set): LeMond was faster than David Millar's 2003 record (14 years after LeMond), the year before Millar was busted - and admitted - for doping. Faster than Fabian Cancellara's 2007 record (18 years after LeMond). Cancellara is a 4-time world TT Champion (plus 3 bronze) and 2-time Olympic TT champion (plus 1 silver) along with countless other TT and individual wins. LeMond was faster than Cancellara despite Cancellara only doing 8k, or 1/3 the distance of LeMond. Faster than Lance Armstrong: No comment required on doping record, Tour wins, aero technology, etc. Faster than Levi Leipheimer: Convicted doper. Faster than Tony Martin's 2013 record (24 years after LeMond). Martin is a 13-time World Championship medalist (7 Gold Medals) and Olympic Medalist, and a TT specialist with a nickname of Der Panzerwagen for his ability to blow people away in TT's. Technology: Next let's consider the cycling advancements from Lemond's 1989 era to that of today, all of which have been tested, developed and proven in a wind tunnel to dramatically increase performance: Skinsuits Aero helmets Shoe covers Aero bike frames (wind tunnel proven 50 seconds faster over 25km vs steel tube bike) Aero bike wheels Aero bars The biggest aero gain of them all: rider position (head position alone wind tunnel tested >1 minute over 25 km) Doping: LeMond won 3 individual stages and won the Tour 3 times: 1986, 1989, 1990. During any of those years not a single rider in the Tour peloton failed a drug test. However in future testing 31% of the riders that took part in the 1986 Tour tested positive, 32% of the riders in the 1989 race tested positive, and 37% of the riders taking part in the 1990 Tour tested positive. You'd have to make a decision here, either nobody doped during the 1986/89/90 Tours - but oddly 1/3 the peloton doped and was caught in subsequent races, or the doping tests weren't any good, or the test results were hidden. To recap: Lemond beat ALL of these: Multi-time world TT champions Multi-time Olympic TT champions Convicted dopers TT specialists And ALL combinations of the above. On a course that was up to 3x longer than the above riders set their speed records on And he beat them all on a round tube steel frame bike with box section, spoked aluminum wheels (rear disk), downtube shifters, clip-on "bullhorn" aero bars, a floppy skinsuit and a walmart-looking helmet. Either LeMond doped, or you believe modern-day cycling advancements like wind tunnel testing, aero wheels/bars/helmets/skinsuits/shifters, power meters, diet and training methods and their related advancements over the last 32 years haven't helped riders get faster. It's as simple as that. My opinion: LeMond was the best doper in history. He set records on laughable equipment, won the Tour, and never got caught.

@@usualsuspectsfor1k ok Lance…🤪🏳️‍🌈

@@user-hf8ie8mf3n Funny how you call Lemond the greatest cyclist ever yet when someone presents you with facts proving otherwise you dismiss them. I'm not a Lance fan. Did you even read what I posted? Did you research ANY of it yourself? If you did, you'll see everything I wrote is true. I did the research because I wanted to know. I pretty much knew Lance was doping because he beat all the other convicted dopers. Once LeMond really started hounding Lance, I started digging for info on LeMond, his races/stats, and the people he raced against and won. I didn't set out to prove he was a doper, I was hoping he wasn't because we Americans got disgraced with Lance. But when you look at the facts, there is no other explanation other than LeMond doped. And he doped big. And The Tour was complicit in covering it up/hiding it, I can only assume because of his last name.

@@usualsuspectsfor1k get a life 😘

@@user-hf8ie8mf3n Look up ONE of the facts I posted. Just pick one. If it's right, look up the next one. Every one of them is correct. LeMond is the greatest doper of all time.

He was indeed diagnosed with Mitochondrial Myopathy. That diagnosis is what it took to make him finally give up racing and training.

He was a complete ass to a poor waiter who did not refill his water fast enough. The restaurant was crowded and unexpectantly more busy than usual so it was short-staffed. The bullied waiter had no idea who LeMond was since the waiter was a young kid and this was the 2000s. I've followed cycling since the 1970s and recognized him immediately. So disappointing that the hype of "nice guy" is just that.

@Geoff LeMond Were you there? I was. Stillwater, Minnesota. The bike series had not gone smoothly. I saw him several times during the event. He was "nice" to all except that poor waiter. The fact that he was nice to some does not mean it is impossible he was not nice to others. Being frustrated, thirsty, hungry, and perhaps tired could explain the crack in his public persona.

Someone else that remembers Lemond lapping the Seniors multiple times. He soloed away from the best Northern California riders at the Davis Criterium, caught them and took off again.

Yep, and not forgetting Fignon

Where have you been living never heard of pro cycling?

Remember his Taco Bell sponsorship?

@@robbiddlecombe8392 typical American story

Same here. I was about 11 years old and my folks bought me a Sports Illustrated subscription. Those articles got my attention. Said I'd never wear a cycling kit. 30 years later, Lycra everywhere

@@robbiddlecombe8392 Winning was a fantastic magazine!

Agreed, should have won 5 in a row. Hopefully he never went hunting ever again.

I still have that same book!

@@robbiddlecombe8392 But some of the racing was better to watch without the help of radios and richer teams dominating the 3 tours with 4 or 5 riders driving the pace up most of the climbs. It was more a case of rider against rider back then and pre-EPO which meant that the ridiculous attacks like Armstrong and Riis couldn't happen. The last few COVID years have been great to watch though.

@@robbiddlecombe8392 too true, Rob, too true. You have to admit though, that cycling before race radios was an entirely different thing and was much more exciting due to its unpredictability

race radios were a ruination. So sad.

What in the world makes you think that Greg Lemond was clean with all his success coming after EPO went into clinical trials till 1½ years after it was on the market. Fignon was doped - why would you assume that because Lemond was no efficiently doping checked that he was clean?

@@jenspetersen5865I raced in Northern California in the 80s and saw Lemond race with junior gears against the best Seniors. I assume he wasn't doping as a 15 year old beating people like George Mount and Howard. I talked to Howard about it and he confirmed that Lemond stayed with him on junior gears. VO2Max 92.5

@@bradcarvey How different do you think that is from other TDF riders that bloom early? Similar stories are told about ex. Tyler Hamilton. Doping is the jump from great to exceptional, and at least 10 riders in each TDF field has dominated at young age.

@@jenspetersen5865 You could be right. Perhaps, if you saw what I saw in the 80s in Norther California you would have doubts. I would be curious to hear from the best riders from the late 80s, about what they think about LeMond and doping.

@@bradcarvey I agree with Greg Lemond in the statement that there are no miracles in cycling that he used against Armstrong, but the story of being the best among dopers is less of a miracle than being the clean rider that beat all the dopers in a time where doping was rampant and where tests were not really a thing. EPO was not illegal in cycling till 1997, and at least according to Armstrong they stopped using it prior to the 2001 TDF due to the test coming out, and went back to blood doping like they had used prior to 1988/89. There were no standards for blood doping/EPO before 1997, which means that ex. Bjarne Riis that hit 64 in hematocrit values during the 1996 tour was legally clean except for steroid use. From ChatGPT Cycling's regulation of hematocrit values to stay under 50% began in the early 1990s. Hematocrit is the volume percentage of red blood cells in the blood, and it can be used as an indicator of potential blood doping, which was a common practice in professional cycling. Blood doping involves artificially increasing the red blood cell count to enhance an athlete's oxygen-carrying capacity and thus improve endurance performance. To counter this, the International Cycling Union (UCI) introduced a limit on hematocrit levels in 1997. The limit was set at 50%, meaning that cyclists' hematocrit levels could not exceed this threshold during doping controls. This regulation aimed to prevent blood doping and create a fair playing field for all cyclists. Subsequent advancements in anti-doping measures have involved more sophisticated testing methods, such as the use of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). The ABP tracks an athlete's blood parameters over time, looking for unusual or suspicious changes that might indicate doping.

Glad you enjoyed it and I am jealoous of your meeting with him :P

Don't forget AERO 😏

And then he got fat.

Heart rate but no power meter then?

Too much ice cream in the off season

He was also known for gaining a lot of weight in the offseason and starting the racing season being chubby and out of form as 50% of the peloton in that time. Nowadays, you will never see a pro cyclist getting overweigh in the offseason.

Lemond is not the one that brought "science" to cycling. Renault (that he joined) was looking at "science" based engineering and all of the top teams were interested in nutrition. The riders themselves sometimes objected to "showboating" and odd behavior but that's a different story. The most important "scientist" in cycling is probably Francesco Conconi, a cardiologist. He took research from rehab medicine and human performance research from running and cross country skiing and so forth and applied it most famously to Francesco Moser. At the same time (more or less) a guy known as Eddy B. was coaching US amateurs and getting most of them involved in "blood doping" that relied on some of the same "science" and traditional abuses. In terms of metrics for "science" the age of measuring riders on the bike also started with Conconi and Moser. They were the first to use portable heart rate monitors on the bike. Lemond's first HRM on the bike was a Casio with a wired ear lobe sensor. I think it was just a photo op for Casio. Polar already had an ECG based wireless strap with a wristwatch to store the data. Lemond wasn't even the first to use an SRM power meter. As far as I know he only used that gear after his accident in the spring of 1987. Lemond's coach at La Vie Claire (and then Toshiba) was very good but he wasn't "cutting edge". Not only that but Greg propagated a lot of pseudoscientific takes on his views and fears as he struggled to find his peak fitness and then to explain Lance Armstrong. The worst thing is that Lemond reported a small breakthrough in the 1989 Giro where he surged in the end to place well in the last ITT. Wonderful. His explanation was a "vitamin shot" from his "aid". OK. But then when convenient he starts talking about how he can't quite repeat his "purple patch of 1989 because it must be that everyone beating him is doping. Maybe they are. But maybe he needs to pay more attention to what his "aids" are injecting in to him that suddenly help him in the same kind of "miracle" that helped Floyd Landis recover in the 2006 Tour. The 1986 Tour was a great victory but it's not like there was any conspiracy against Greg. Lemond raced twice before and place third and then second before his first place. He was racing against past winners (first against defending champ Fignon in 1984, then against Hinault in '85 and '86) on his own team. All team sports are like that when the upstarts want to prematurely defeat the established greats. Especially on their own team. And it was shameful for him to flub a corner in the ITT and then propagate "sabotage" fears. And Greg was constantly fighting with his family. I hope he has finally found some peace. He was his own worst enemy while racing and then trying to build his magical cycling brand. His latest project looks pretty good. Respect for him if he proves that he can continue to become wiser with age.

not to forget he still raced with shotgun pellets still having in his body, because doc´s couldn´t remove them.

@@robbiddlecombe8392 Kochli was a cyclist that turned in to a very good coach, not a researcher. I'm not saying he wasn't "cutting edge" but he wasn't really a "scientific" pioneer. That's all I'm saying. Bernard Tapie apparently got Hinault to try the innovative Look pedals designed from "safety" ski bindings. They were white and intended to help Hinault fully recover from an injury he suffered in 1983. They say he got a bad bike setup during the Vuelta. Greg got the second generation (black and about 50 grams lighter) the season after Hinault previewed them. So here again this was not a "Lemond" innovation. Greg was rightly ridiculed for shitty discipline. The most famous example was returning to California in 1987 after he broke his wrist in Milano-San Remo. That is when he went turkey hunting with his brother in-law and got shot. (In Lincoln, California, not far from Rancho Murieta where he was residing at the time.) He was also criticized for playing golf during the cycling season and eating ice cream during long stages of some races. To be fair, Hinault and others have also been caught with ice cream but I think this criticism is really rooted in the fact that Lemond tried to show that he was a great champion because of his unmatched discipline and so forth. His character was compared to Hinault, who Lemond implied could beat him only because of team support and French cultural biases. And then when he struggled to gain form after the accident he blamed everything but his debatable discipline. Think of Chris Froome's struggles (after winning 4 Tours) and how stoically he works to regain lost form. He doesn't offer up any excuses. Greg...always had stories about sabotaged bikes and whatnot and I honestly think his family drove him kind of nuts. His father and wife were always pushing him and complaining. I don't really care about any of this except that when he started echoing stories from gasbag journalists about Armstrong, who at worst continued using his "cancer recovery" drugs well in to his training periods, I just remembered what a dumbass Greg was to throw out those accusations when I know for a fact that the riders almost never scrutinize what they're given by team doctors. And EPO has legitimate "therapeutic" uses. For cancer recovery, anemia, etc. It's just very expensive and you would not normally give it to some random dude with low red blood cells. What is the ethical difference between blood transfusions and EPO when properly administered EPO is safer? But Greg instead started talking about these Manichean stories of good and evil. Greg is the victimized Saint in all of his stories.

@@indonesiaamerica7050 I had EPO injections as part of my cancer treatment.

@@indonesiaamerica7050 Shit I love cycling! All the intrigue, half truths, and truth! Makes me just love it even more!!

Glad you enjoyed it! and thanks for watching

LeMonster 😅👍🇺🇸

@@pagejustin5572 The Reno ROCKET😉🚀

He didn't even blow the whistle. LeMond didn't know. LeMond wanted to support Armstrong and Armstrong really really should have showed proper respect to the trailblazer who came before him But get over Armstrong, it was a toxic era supported by ownership and management..... Armstrong Ullrich Pantani Zulle cippolini, zabel, Riis, Heras, Hamilton, Contador this is how it was. Keep your mouth shut or go home. We can't just erase 1995-2010 because it was the sport itself that allowed and permitted the riders to get that out of control and cheat their way to win after win..... But if they're all cheating then it's fair to everyone except the very very very few who stayed clean, those 6-9% are the victims in this but this was the reality of this sport at that time. Hopefully it was the end of it

Strange that no rider no matter how doped has ever done a long timetrial as fast as Clean Gregg

@@jenspetersen5865 makes me think he was doping

@@johnlabry325 Amgen developed and clinically tested EPO for Anemia in Southern California where Greg Lemond lives between 1984 and 1988, before it was released for general sale before the 1989 cycling season where Greg Lomond did the best time trials of his life in the Giro and the TDF - and especially at the Giro had a miracolous recovery after he got some vitamin injections. It is highly likely that Lemond during treatment for his shooting accident would have recieved EPO as part of a treatment.

@@jenspetersen5865 Please provide actual proof of these accusations. Its amazing how people slander others without any proof at all, just create and argument fueled by pure conjecture. EPO was not being used on humans when Greg Lemond had his shooting accident which of course occurred in 1987. It was not approved for humans for more than two years and it would not have been any part of a protocol for recovery from a shotgun blast had it even been available. It was approved exclusively for patients on dialysis (which was who it was designed for) in June of 1989, then for chemo patients with reduced kidney function in April of 1993. And, you clearly have no understanding of Lemond's history nor geography. Lemond was born in Lakewood, California, which IS in Southern California, near Long Beach but far away from the where the Amgen campus is east of the San Fernando Valley. But Lemond left Southern California and grew up in the mountainous Squaw Valley-Lake Tahoe-Reno area, on the border of California and Nevada, an eight hour drive from Amgen. From the beginning he spent his life at altitude and from the time he was fourteen and was already competitive with the best amateurs in the United States, it was clear that he was an almost unique talent with a massive engine. Those of us who were around at the time knew he was far more talented that any American we had seen. And when he began racing on the pro circuit he was immediately successful, winning his first pro race at the age of nineteen, when every other rider or the day was riding as a first year amateur. I saw him win the World Championships in Switzerland, a few months after he turned 22. Many say he was the greatest talent of his generation. I have yet to see any actual proof that any riders were using EPO in the summer of 1989, least of all Greg Lemond. Blood boosting was of course a well-known aid, especially since the 1984 Olympics (where it was used advantageously by the United States team, then not prohibited) and it was probably in effective use in the professional peloton in the late 1980s, but I have yet to see a specific accusation or a shred of proof as far as Lemond was concerned. A time trial record on a one-way course with the probably aid of a tailwind as well as the advantageous use of disc wheels and a brand new aero position and helmet are hardly evidence of doping, especially when the man who set the record was thought to have one of the best cardiovascular systems on record. Its actually something of a miracle that Lemond was able to come back to form after the accident, but he was in his 20s, with more than a decade of intense training. But clearly such a shooting and all the foreign matter that remained in his body is not something any of us would want in the long term. The illegal use of EPO seems to have become more and more common in the pro peloton somewhere between 1991 and 1993, as Lemond's career came to a close because his body or his mind could no longer take the stress of professional racing.

@@barrysmith8920 Tailwind - go drink some more coolaid. The videos do not show any significant wind neither along the Saine or at the finish. Leaves are not moving, trees are not bending, flags are not showing any sign of significant wind, there are no waves or signs of wind gusts on the water. All that is left are unsubstantiated claims that Greg Lemond never doped, and records that cannot logically be explained without it. Fact is that no matter how doped no one has topped Greg Lemond even on much better equipment. And sorry the arguments of how great he was as a junior in local races in the US really does not set him apart from other elite cyclists.

I match him with Davis Phinney.

Hear hear!

He certainly helped U.S. cycling A LOT, as the first real 'break through' rider who proved that being born in this country does not automatically, and existentially disqualify one from competing, and WINNING in Europe. (Jacques Boyer was the first real U.S. born roadie 'pioneer' to seriously go over there, against ALL odds, and try to get established into a pro trade team, but of course, he did not win much at all.) He gave me some hope that my chosen sport would not be permanently relegated to be a totally unknown, outer-fringe, non-accepted oddity in the land of the exclusively stick and ballerz activities. (Typical 'muricun attitude; "Those are the ONLY 'real sports', right?!" 😡) I started racing back in the very 'dark days' when the N.Y Times would have a one sentence blurb about Eddy Merckx winning the Tour, and not even in the sports pages, IF YOU WERE LUCKY!!! So all of the TV and press coverage once there was a GREAT American rider was a GODSEND!!!!

Err you omitted big migs BIG affection ❤ for epo

@@samgiamarelos4524 Exactly. M.I. was a revolutionary cheater. 5 straight years as a PED user. Unprecedented at the time.

The competition was stiffer in LeMond's era, and Merckx was just an animal. While I wouldn't say Greg was lazy, it seemed clear that he was more concerned about conserving his energy. Also, Merckx was done after ten years because he worked so hard. He aged fast, especially after '75. Greg's retirement was forced by birdshot in his butt and a congenital health problem.

@@monkmchorning The birdshot that was the likely cause of many of his problems is not in "his butt", he has lead shot gun pellets in the lining of his heart muscle.

Miguel did giro double twice consecutively attempted it 3 times. They didn't have same approach but the softening of stage contention from Greg's generation to Miguels definitely helped him adopt and approach probably never better suited to just one rider. In that 5-6 year window indurain had no competition in time trials , while getting over the mountains with some ease. He won mountain stage in 88 working for Delgado lemond likely has a head to head in 89 but Delgado showed up late to start. Still considered best tour in modern era Vuelta was raced in different time of year then..wild looking back at it now 🙌 Greg learned French moved to region. Had amazing learning curve fascinating athlete

Until recently? Are you kidding?

​@@isitrachelorj3953 No ones been busted recently, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

@@techvelo Froome was caught cheating in 2019, and got away with it. Wiggo in 2012. Two Austrians in 2019/20 - Denifl was one of them. Remember, Lance was never busted. Or Levi. Or Museeuw. Contador was. 7 Portuguese riders were suspended last year. They are all still cheating, and that makes Lemonds efforts more spectacular.

@@isitrachelorj3953 Armstrong did test positive on more than one occasion. He and his big money sponsors greased all of the right palms to have it overlooked again and again.

@@prestachuck2867 Chuck, I think you are missing the sarcasm. They all probably tested positive, and had those results buried; "officially" they never returned a doped test result. They've all admitted doping since, hundreds of them

Thank you for that, appreciate it :)

Absolument. J’adorais Greg LeMond qui parlait français avec un accent américain ! Un grand champion, un athlète d’exception, une légende du cyclisme mondial et du Tour de France.

And bob roll

@@arthurreyes2632 711 yes.... Bob Roll rode for Team 711.... A bunch of cavemen 🤣😅🤣👍 legit

Andy Hampsten is definitely underrated, if American had a rider as good as Hampsten today we'd be talking about him like crazy..... He won a grand tour, he won Alp d'Huez and came in the top 10 of like eight grand tours which is damn impressive

@@pagejustin5572 Yup, STILL the ONLY, single U.S. born winner of the Giro, just as Chris Horner is for La Vuelta. 😉👍👍

Amazing :O

Yeah the Lemond bikes was annoying but it seems its doing well now though

Selling my 2004 LeMond Zurich now. Great frame and geometry.

Glad someone mentioned this re. Goodwood. Also, pretty obvious that Saronni would have attacked and caught Boyer, lead out or not. There was only ever going to be one winner that day.

Awesome, thank you! :)

I admire him so much that I bought one of his bikes.

Figgy? Dude, come on.

@@HelderVictorino Yep, Figgy. Great guy too. Met him here in Canada once.

He even rode the pursuit on the track as a junior, earning a Junior Worlds silver medal in a competition he did not even specifically train for, or have a bunch of experience riding.

@@LS1conehead American racing at that time was a magical moment. We were right on the edge of something--not quite sure---and then wham! Along comes Greg. There was some good coaching too. Some alignments of the heavens. That the first American to win the tour would literally be named THE WORLD en français---it was DESTINY and we could taste that.

@@vibratingstring Yup, I remember when he won the Junior Road Worlds, after Madiot hooked him in the sprint, thinking; YES, FINALLY, we might just have a world class Tour winner from OUR nation for once, and get even a minute shred of attention/notoriety/kudos from our effing 'stick and ball' ONLY press, for our chosen sport. ;)