Detailed Biography

1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Gregory James "Greg" LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California.

In 1986, LeMond became the first American cyclist to win the race. In 1987, he was accidentally shot and seriously injured in a hunting accident , taking two years to recover before returning to win the Tour again in 1989 and 1990, becoming one of only eight cyclists to have won the Tour three or more times.

Racing career

LeMond was a standout junior rider and quickly established himself as a talented cyclist. Soon after his initial success, he began competing against older, more seasoned racers and gained the attention of the US national cycling team. LeMond went on to win gold, silver and bronze medals at the 1979 junior world championships in Argentina and amazed spectators with his spectacular victory in the road race. He was picked for the 1980 Olympic cycling team but was unable to compete due to the US boycott of the summer Moscow games. With the guidance of Cyrille Guimard he joined the European peloton, first racing with the Paris-based Union Sportive de Creteil, then beginning racing professionally in 1981 with the Renault-Elf-Gitane team. He finished in second place with a silver medal at the 1982 World Cycling Championship and become the first American to win a road world championship the following year. He soon began preparing for the more demanding Grand Tours.

LeMond rode his first Tour de France in 1984 and finished third, winning the young rider classification. In the 1985 Tour the managers of his La Vie Claire team ordered the 24-year-old LeMond to ride in support of his team captain Bernard Hinault, who was leading the race but suffering from injuries sustained in a crash, instead of riding to win the race. LeMond finished second, 1:42 behind Hinault, who was able to claim his fifth Tour victory. LeMond later asserted in an interview that the team management and his coach Paul Koechli had lied to him during a crucial stage, telling him Hinault was close behind when in fact Hinault lagged by more than three minutes.

A year later in the 1986 Tour, Hinault and LeMond were co-leaders of the La Vie Claire team, with Hinault publicly promising to ride in support of LeMond in gratitude for LeMond's sacrifice in 1985. By stage 12, Hinault had built up a five-minute lead over LeMond, claiming he was trying to draw out LeMond's rivals, but he cracked in the mountains the next day and soon LeMond was in the lead. Although the two crested the Alpe d'Huez together to win the stage in a show of unity, it was clear that Hinault had been riding aggressively against his teammate. LeMond ultimately took the yellow jersey that year but felt betrayed by Hinault.

Disaster struck LeMond while turkey hunting in California, April 20, 1987, when his brother-in-law accidentally discharged his shotgun, striking LeMond in the back just over two months before the 1987 Tour de France was to begin. LeMond missed the following two Tours while recovering, also undergoing surgery for appendicitis and for tendinitis in his leg.

At the 1989 Tour de France, with 37 shotgun pellets remaining in his body , LeMond was hoping only to finish in the top 20. Heading into the final stage, however, an individual time trial finishing in Paris, LeMond was in second place overall. He was 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon, who had won the Tour in 1983 and 1984. LeMond rode the time trial using novel aero bars, which gave him an aerodynamic advantage, to beat Fignon by 58 seconds to claim his second yellow jersey with a final margin of eight seconds – the closest in the Tour's history. LeMond's average speed in the time trial, 54.545 km/h, was the fastest in Tour de France stage history; since then, only the 1994 prologue has been faster. As LeMond danced in victory on the Champs-Élysées, Fignon sat and wept. Several days later, Fignon attributed his loss to saddle sores. However, it was noted that Fignon had been overconfident on the last stages of the Tour, even congratulating LeMond on his second place, allowing LeMond to gain an advantage which proved decisive. LeMond's comeback was confirmed by winning his second world road championship several weeks later, beating Dimitri Konyshev and Seán Kelly in the final sprint. LeMond was named Sports Illustrated magazine's 1989 "Sportsman of the Year", the first cyclist to receive the honor.

LeMond won the Tour for the third time in 1990. This Tour saw a group including Claudio Chiappucci, then at the start of his career and relatively unknown, gain a lead of 10 minutes 35 seconds in Stage 1 , which LeMond steadily chipped away through the mountain stages, leaving Chiappucci with a five-second lead before the final individual time trial. LeMond placed fifth in the time trial, beating Chiappucci by more than two minutes and taking the lead of the race. He became one of the few cyclists to win the Tour without winning a stage.

In 1992, LeMond became the first American to win the Tour DuPont, a short-lived American answer to the Tour de France that took place from 1991 to 1996. LeMond won the prologue in record time and it was his first American win since the mid-1980s. The 1992 Tour DuPont victory was Greg LeMond's last major win of his career.

LeMond retired from racing in 1994, blaming mitochondrial myopathy for his deteriorating performance since 1990. In 2007, he said he didn't believe he had had the illness at all, blaming his condition on overtraining.

In the 1997 career retrospective interview Once Was King with Bryan Malessa, LeMond rued his lost opportunities, noting he had "given away" the 1985 Tour and missed it altogether in 1987 and 1988 after being shot. "Of course you can't rewrite racing history", he said, "but I'm confident that I would have won five Tours."

Post-racing career

LeMond founded LeMond Bicycles in 1990, while he was still racing, but it faltered, something LeMond blames on "undercapitalization" and poor management by his father . In 1992, LeMond struck a deal with Trek in which it would license his name for bicycles it would build, distribute and help design, but which would be sold under LeMond's name. This is often summarized as a sale to Trek, although he still owns the company. LeMond says the deal with Trek "destroyed" his relationship with his father. In 2001, the Trek deal proved painful for LeMond, as he was forced by John Burke, the head of Trek, to apologize for comments that seemed to impugn Lance Armstrong, by then a more important marketing force for Trek than LeMond. After a showdown with Burke, LeMond read a formal apology to Armstrong. In April 2008 a new lawsuit was filed by LeMond against Trek and this time Trek CEO John Burke pulled the plug on the relationship with Greg LeMond and stopped building bikes under the LeMond brand . In connection with that announcement Trek also gave a short timeline of the Trek-Greg LeMond association

Greg LeMond also founded LeMond Fitness. He took up auto racing for a few years. In the 1990s he created a restaurant called Tour de France on France Avenue in a retail district of Edina, Minnesota. He lives in Medina, Minnesota, United States. More recently, he was the guest speaker for Sumitomo Drive Technologies' International Sales Meeting in Cancun, Mexico on May 2, 2008. In 2008, LeMond narrated an award-winning documentary for Adventures for the Cure.

Anti-doping stance and controversy

Greg LeMond was one of the first professional cyclists of note to openly discuss the sport's extensive and troubled relationship with performance-enhancing substances. This stance has brought him into conflict with some of the most famous names in the sport.

Lance Armstrong

In July 2001, LeMond criticized Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong for continuing to associate with Michele Ferrari, an Italian physician and sports trainer who has at various times admitted to practicing blood doping, advocated the controlled use of banned substance Erythropoietin by athletes, and accused by professional cyclists of providing banned substances.

When Lance won the prologue to the 1999 Tour I was close to tears, but when I heard he was working with Michele Ferrari I was devastated. In the light of Lance's relationship with Ferrari, I just don't want to comment on this year's Tour. This is not sour grapes. I'm disappointed in Lance, that's all it is.

A month later, LeMond issued an apology for this comment, calling Armstrong "a great champion... I believe his performances are the result of the same hard work, dedication and focus that were mine 10 years ago."

LeMond spoke out again three years later, after additional Tour de France wins by Armstrong. "If Armstrong's clean, it's the greatest comeback. And if he's not, then it's the greatest fraud." He also described the fallout of his 2001 statement, alleging that Armstrong had threatened to defame him, and that his business interest had also been threatened.

basically said 'I could find 10 people that will say you took EPO'... The week after, I got multiple people that were on Lance ... Lance's camp, basically saying 'you better be quiet,' and I was quiet for three years. I have a business ... I have bikes that are sold ... and I was told that my sales might not be doing too well if ... just the publicity, the negative publicity.

The same month, LeMond also stated to newspaper Le Monde: "Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret. I don't know how he can continue to convince everybody of his innocence."

In a 2007 interview, LeMond accused Amstrong of trying to sabotage his relationship with Trek bicycles, and described him by saying "I just think he's not a good person and that's all I can say. I mean, he's a facade, if you knew the real Lance Armstrong that I know. I think he fronts himself as a guy who is loving and caring. From my experience, he's not a nice guy and I've had some very difficult periods with him. And I don't believe he'll finish up having any friends in cycling."

Floyd Landis

On May 17, 2007, LeMond testified at a USADA hearing convened to weigh the evidence of doping by Floyd Landis during the 2006 Tour de France. Under oath, he described a phone conversation he had with Floyd Landis on August 6, 2006, as well as another with Will Geoghegan, Landis' business manager, on May 16, the evening before the testimony. The major points of the testimony are as follow: In an August 6 phone conversation, LeMond said he told Landis that If you did , you could single-handedly change the sport. You could be the one who will salvage the sport, to which Landis allegedly responded What good would it do? If I did, it would destroy a lot of my friends and hurt a lot of people.
LeMond disclosed his childhood sexual abuse to Landis. I was sexually abused before I got into cycling, and it nearly destroyed me by keeping it secret, LeMond stated he told Landis. will come back to haunt you when you are 40 or 50. If you have a moral compass and ethics, this will destroy you.
Will Geoghegan called LeMond at his personal mobile phone number the night before the scheduled testimony. LeMond reported that Geoghegan said Hi Greg, this is your uncle. I’ll be there tomorrow and we can talk about how we used to hide your weenie. LeMond's BlackBerry, with Geoghegan's phone number captured in the call log, was entered into evidence.

Following the testimony, Landis' legal team announced that Geoghegan had just been fired as Landis' business manager. Geoghegan was also observed by reporters approaching LeMond during the break. LeMond later stated to reporters that Geoghegan had admitted making the call, and "tried to apologize". Landis has admitted to being in the same room as Geoghegan when the call was made, and defended his decision not to fire Geoghegan until after the LeMond testimony, saying he had been waiting for legal advice. Landis testified at the hearing that Geoghegan came to know of LeMond's childhood sexual abuse through discussions with the defense team, and obtained his personal mobile phone number by syncing their phones together. Geoghegan blamed "a beer or two" for his action, and entered an undisclosed rehab facility on May 21. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation of the incident as a potential witness tampering and then terminated the case without prosecution on July 31.

LeMond's testimony is supported by an online posting Floyd Landis made on the Daily Peloton forum, in which he states that LeMond disclosed personal information of a sensitive nature to Landis, and threatens to use the information to damage LeMond if LeMond continues to speak about Landis' doping case::

Unfortunately, the facts that he divulged to me in the hour which he spoke and gave no opportunity for me to do the same, would damage his character severely and I would rather not do what has been done to me. However, if he ever opens his mouth again and the word Floyd comes out, I will tell you all some things that you will wish you didn't know and unfortunately I will have entered the race to the bottom which is now in progress. For the record, I don't know Greg, and have no more respect for Greg than I have for people who go through life blaming others for all of their problems. You are not a victim of others Greg, you are a pathetic human who believes that if others didn't cheat you would be the President and all the peasants would bow to your command. Join reality with the rest of us who win some and lose some and keep on smiling. ...

Aftermath of the Landis testimony

Several weeks after his testimony, Greg LeMond and his wife Kathy gave an extensive interview to the Sunday Times. He provided additional details on the circumstances of his 2001 apology to Armstrong, stating that Trek, the longtime manufacturer and distributor of LeMond Racing Cycles, had threatened to end the relationship at the behest of Armstrong. He described the two years that followed the forced apology as the worst in his life, marked by self-destructive behavior that ultimately led him to disclose his sexual abuse to his wife and seek help. LeMond also described how being a victim of molestation had impacted both his racing career and his life since. In September 2007, Greg LeMond became a founding board member of the non-profit organization 1in6.org, whose mission is "to help men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood live healthy, happy lives".

Alberto Contador

On July 23, 2009, LeMond wrote an opinion article in the French newspaper Le Monde questioning Alberto Contador's climb up Verbier in the 2009 Tour de France. In the opinion piece, LeMond calculates Contador's VO2 max as 99.5 ml/mn/kg, which LeMond claims has never been achieved . "The burden is then on Alberto Contador to prove he is physically capable of performing this feat without the use of performance-enhancing products," LeMond goes on to declare. LeMond equates this to a Mercedes winning a Formula One race. "There is something wrong," LeMond writes. "It would be interesting to know what's under the hood." However other experts in exercise physiology have questioned LeMond's calculation of 99.5 ml/mn/kg. In an article from Cyclingnews.com, published later the same day as LeMond's piece, expert Andrew Coggan questions the validity of LeMond's allegations. He states that "a more reasonable estimate of Contador's power during that ascent is about 450 W, which would require a sustained VO2 of 'only' 80 mL/kg/min"; which is "still high, but not so high that you can definitively state that it can only be achieved via doping". LeMond's criticisms were based on calculations made by former Festina cycling team trainer Antoine Vayer; according to Coggan, "Vayer may have failed to take into account that air is less dense at altitude and also incorrectly estimated Contador's aerodynamic drag". However, Coggen's own questions about air density can be applied to the oxygen density on the Verbier, which would inhibit Contador's power output. Coggan's failed claim posits the need to question Contador's "cleanliness" in his performances on the Verbier and in other "remarkable" performances.

Major achievements and accolades

First year as a professional. Coors Classic Tour of Oise 1982 – Renault-Elf-Gitane Tour de l'Avenir UCI Road World Championships Road Race Tour Méditerranéen Giro di Lombardia Grand Prix des Nations 1983 – Renault-Elf-Gitane UCI Road World Championships Road Race Dauphiné Libéré Tour Méditerranéen 1984 – Renault Tour de France Liège-Bastogne-Liège Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré Tirreno-Adriatico 1985 – La Vie Claire UCI Road World Championships Road Race Coors Classic Tour de France Giro d'Italia Vuelta al País Vasco Paris-Roubaix Omloop Het Volk 1986 – La Vie Claire Tour de France Giro d'Italia Milan-Sanremo Coors Classic Tour de Suisse Paris-Nice Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 1988 Tour of the Americas 1989 – ADR Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year UCI Road World Championships Road Race Tour de France Tour of the Americas Corestates U.S. Pro Cycling Championships Giro d'Italia 1990 – Z ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year Tour de France Züri-Metzgete UCI Road World Championships Road Race Giro d'Italia 1991 – Z World's Most Outstanding Athlete Award, Jesse Owens International Trophy Tour de France Tour DuPont 1992 – Z USA Cycling's Korbel Lifetime Achievement Award Tour DuPont ) 1996 Inductee, United States Bicycling Hall of Fame 1999 Fox Sports Network's "50 Greatest Athletes of the Century" 2006 International Cycling Center's "Lifetime Achievement Award" winner