Greg Lemond – Love Him Or Hate Him
Written by : Myles McCorry
www.BIKEPURE.org
To meet a cycling legend is a memorable day for any biker. To meet the rider who turned victor in the most amazing dogfight with Laurent Fignon in the 1989 Tour de France is a great day. Lemond is a hero. Who could forget his bullish attacking riding style throughout the 1980s and early 90’s. On Saturday morning in Limerick, Ireland, a one hundred or so select group of cyclists lined up for their photo to be taken alongside the former world champion prior to the start of the Get Back Challenge Charity event.
It’s the second year Lemond and his family have assisted this worthwhile charity which dedicates it’s efforts to helping young children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds through a network of hospices.
Greg was getting set to take part in the Charity event, yet he and his wife Kathy had time to chat about the Bike Pure campaign and lend their valued support to our efforts in trying to bring about a better future for cyclesport.
After winning the Tour de France in 1989 and 1990, Greg entered the 1991 Tour in the best form of his life. Tests on Greg illustrated this was to be another victorious year. It was not to be. In the best shape of his life, all that he could muster was 7th. Riders that he could previously ride off his wheel were leaving him for dead. This was a tragic and common experience for many clean riders as they entered an era of EPO abuse. An era where champions were defeated and doctors were the most valued members of any team.
Doping has cast a heavy shadow over our sport for over 50 years. Generations have been affected. Lemond, like us, wants to protect the next generation to prevent the plague continuing. He is outspoken and this coupled with Lance Armstrong’s fued with him, have turned a few off him. But I witnessed a man with a genuine, honest love for the sport. A biker who knows what is (and has been) going on in the inner circle of the sport, Lemond has proposed functional methods to clamp down on some of the cheats destroying cycling, yet he seems frustrated with the lack of openness and willingness to listen from those who make the critical decisions. His legitimate proposal for Vo2max testing have been supported by some of the UCI¹s own doctors as a more efficient method to flush out the dopers but are, as yet, unimplemented. Greg has long voiced the opinion that it is the system, not the tempted riders that needs restructuring, thus removing the infrastructure that allows riders to obtain and utilize performance enhancing drugs.
Regardless of your personal view on the man, he is a legend, his palmers and the memories he gives to a generation are sensational and he is working to protect the sport for the future. Keep it up.
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What do you think that Greg will do if Lance wins the 2008 Tour? Knowing that Lance is a)37 and b)getting tested daily will Greg..
A)Continue to insist that Lance is doping but has found some super duper secret way to hide it, or
B)Say that Lance is not doping but neither are the other riders but that Lance was doping in his previous 7 wins which let him keep up with the others who were doping then too, or
C)Apologize profusely for accusing Lance of doping and finally give him the credit he is due for winning by working harder and smarter than anyone else in the sport has ever done including Greg.
Having personally witnessed Greg’s outburst at the 2008 Interbike press conference I’ll bet Greg goes with option A or B because his jealousy of Lance won’t let him do anything else. reality.
facts: Andy Hampsten and other athletes met early on w/ developers of EPO, warning of potential for abuse and need to consider a safeguard for testing. Fell on “deaf” ears.
Cyclist here in Bldr tells of first season as pro in Spain; knock on door, policia – not to test, but to DELIVER the roommate’s dope. Rider quit, disillusioned.
consider parallel history: Greg was young, stronger teammate of old legend; I admired LA, but now he looks more like Hinault did then, and it will tarnish his rep if the team doesnt rally behind the likely win of Contador up Ventoux. Grace is a rare quality in former champions, it would appear. Greg’s earned his right to gripe.
I must say that event the best message in the world has no importance when it is delivered in a sermon, a lecture, or just plain whinning.
Like the reader above was, I too was at the Interbike outburst. I was embarrassed for Mr. Lemond. He came across like my 7 year old kid who does not get her way.
Greg has shown no class, no maturity, not even a little civility. He needs to improve his delivery and his message will go further and be listened to more.
LeMond, in his tv segments during this years Tour de France, sounds like a world class whiner. It is sad considering his talent.
I will always have a soft spot for LeMond. I do think that he is slightly off his rocker, but I don’t hold it against him. The guy was always paranoid.
The world according to LeMond:
1. His TT Bike was sabotoged by Hinault before the TT in 1986.
2. He was forced to lose the Tour in 1985.
3. Fignon was being dragged up the mountain by a motorbike in 1989.
4. The man who shot JR was the same person on the grassy knoll, and that was the man who was hiding in the bushes during a certain hunting retreat LeMond took part in on a spring day in 1987.
5. That man was Benard Hinault.
I like Lemond. I think he is really trying to help clean up the sport. I think his questions at the interbike conference were very valid. Kind of funny Catlin decided to stop the program and then Damsgaard set up a different set of criteria for Lance’s tests. Lemond is spot on, too bad all these newcomers that only know things after Lance are so quick to judge him.
Two weeks ago, I had the privilege to ride with Greg Lemond in a charity ride in Santa Barbara, California. I rode behind Greg pretty much the entire 55 miles and watched him interact with nearly every person who participated. He made the person he was talking to seem like the most important person on the ride. I watched the “Lance and Lemond Show” at Vegas last year and thought Greg was out of line, but after watching him interact with people and reading articles written on him, everyone seems to agree that he is a prince of a guy. He is very open and honest about his views so you may disagree, but have to respect the man. I do alot more now.
Lemond is one of cycling’s treasures he has gut’s to address a long standing problem thats long been sweep under the carpet and more than not turned a blind eye to, doping could ruin the sport’s image forever ,this has caused other sports to have dark clould over them and besides the health risks who wants doper on one’s epitaph,NOT ME .!!!!! Better training and diet creates better cyclists.Better bicycle fit also will improve your preformance drasticly,NO four sizes do not fit all.!!!!!!! THATS JUST RIDICULOUS.!!!!!!Would you go along and buy a cycling shoe if only in four sizes, i doubt it. so get a real bicycle that has actual frame sizes, train right,eat right,drnk lots of water, the hell with gatoraid any way softdrinks are diuretics. and get plenty of rest and ride like hell.!!!!!!!
good article and for all those who don’t like Greg’s message- do some research.
the sport is a mess. Lemond is trying to get some structured action for the future.
Sorry, Greg has always come off as a whinning 3 year old. Put your big girl panties on and get on with life Greg. As for his products, now that his lawsuit with Trek is over, I’d rather ride anything else than a LeMond. It’s sad too, having won the tour three times I really admired him as a athlete/person. Now my admiration is purely as a Bicyclist/athlete. As a person he really needs help (IMHO)