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Greg LeMond

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   LeMond at the start of the last stage in the 1990 Tour de France.
   LeMond at the start of the last stage in the 1990 Tour de France.

   Gregory James "Greg" LeMond (born June 26, 1961 in Reno, Nevada) is a
   former professional road bicycle racer from the United States. In 1986,
   he became the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France. He won
   the Tour again in 1989 and 1990, becoming one of only eight cyclists to
   have won the Tour three or more times.

Racing career

   Greg was a standout junior rider and quickly established himself as a
   phenomenal talent. Soon after his initial racing success, he began
   competing against older, more seasoned racers and gained the attention
   of the US national cycling team. Greg 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
   named 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. LeMond began racing
   professionally in 1981 with the Renault-Elf-Gitane team. He proved to
   be a forceful one-day rider with a silver medal at the 1982 World
   Cycling Championship and the first American to win a road cycling 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 prestigious White Jersey as the Tour's best young rider. 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 and was suffering from injuries
   sustained in a crash caused by other riders, 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 that Hinault was close behind him
   when in fact Hinault lagged LeMond by over three minutes.

   A year later in 1986, Hinault and LeMond were co-leaders of the La Vie
   Claire team. By stage 12, Hinault had built up a five-minute lead over
   LeMond, but he cracked in the mountains the next day and soon LeMond
   was in the lead. Although the two riders crested the Alpe d'Huez
   together 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, who had publicly
   promised to help him win in 1986 in gratitude for LeMond's sacrifice in
   1985.

   Disaster struck LeMond while turkey hunting in California, April 20,
   1987, when his brother-in-law accidentally discharged his shotgun,
   striking LeMond in the chest 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 tendonitis
   in his leg.

   At the 1989 Tour de France, with 37 shotgun pellets remaining in his
   body (including some in the lining of his heart), 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 then-novel aero
   bars, which gave him a significant aerodynamic advantage, to beat
   Fignon by 58 seconds to claim his second yellow jersey with a final
   victory margin of 8 seconds – the closest in the Tour's history. As
   LeMond danced in victory on the Champs-Élysées, Fignon sat and wept.
   Several days later, Fignon attributed his loss to saddle sores, which
   had hurt his perfomance. However, it was noted that Fignon had been
   overconfident on the last stages of the Tour, allowing LeMond to gain
   an advantage which proved decisive. LeMond's comeback was confirmed by
   winning his second World Cycling Championship road race 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 ever to receive the honour.

   LeMond won the Tour for the third time in 1990. That year he became one
   of the few cyclists to win the Tour without winning any of the
   individual stages.

   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. He developed
   mitochondrial myopathy, possibly resulting from his 1987 wounding, and
   retired from professional cycling in December 1994.

   In a 1997 interview, LeMond openly rued his lost opportunities, noting
   that 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

   Continuing to apply his cycling and fitness expertise, LeMond started
   several companies since his racing retirement, including LeMond
   Bicycles (now a division of Trek) and LeMond Fitness. He pursued auto
   racing briefly as a way to continue channeling his competitive drive.
   However, after several seasons he appears to have dropped that pursuit.
   He currently lives in Medina, Minnesota, USA.

Controversy

   In 2001, LeMond stirred up controversy by allowing the possibility that
   Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong might be doping to improve his
   performance. In July 2004, after additional Tour de France wins by
   Armstrong, LeMond commented again, "If Armstrong's clean, it's the
   greatest comeback. And if he's not, then it's the greatest fraud."
   LeMond also declared 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 2006, LeMond again made news when he alleged that Lance Armstrong
   had threatened him: "Lance threatened me. He threatened my wife, my
   business, my life," LeMond told French sports daily L'Equipe. "His
   biggest threat consisted of saying that he (Armstrong) would find ten
   people to testify that I took EPO." At one point in time LeMond had
   apologized to Armstrong, calling him "a great champion."

   In 2006, LeMond remarked regarding 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd
   Landis and the allegations against him for doping, saying "I hope that
   (Landis) won't do what another American did: Deny, deny, deny." -
   perhaps referring to Tyler Hamilton.

Major achievements and accolades

   2006

     * International Cycling Centre's "Lifetime Achievement Award" winner

   1999

     * Fox Sports Network's "50 Greatest Athletes of the Century"

   1996

     * Inductee, United States Bicycling Hall of Fame

   1992

     * Korbel Lifetime Achievement Award
     * 1st, Prologue (ITT), Tour DuPont

   1991 – Z

     * World's Most Outstanding Athlete Award, Jesse Owens International
       Trophy

   1990 – Z

     * ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year (the only athlete to
       repeat as Wide World's Athlete of the Year.)
     * 1st, Overall, Tour de France
     * 4th, World Cycling Championships

   1989

     * Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
     * ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year
     * 1st, World Cycling Championships
     * 1st, Overall, Tour de France
          + 1st, Stage 5 ( ITT)
          + 1st, Stage 19
          + 1st, Stage 21 ( Champs-Élysées (ITT)

   1986 – La Vie Claire

     * 1st, Overall, Tour de France

   1985 – La Vie Claire

     * 1st, Coors Classic
     * 2nd, World Cycling Championships
     * 2nd, Overall, Tour de France

   1984 – Renault

     * 3rd, Overall, Tour de France
          + Maillot blanc, Best Young Rider Classification

   1983 – Renault-Elf-Gitane

     * 1st, World Cycling Championships
     * 1st, Dauphiné Libéré

   1982 – Renault-Elf-Gitane

     * 1st, Overall, Tour de l'Avenir
     * 2nd, World Cycling Championships

   1981 – Renault-Elf-Gitane

   First year as a professional.
     * 1st, Coors Classic

   1980

     * Member, United States Olympic Cycling Team

   1979

     * 1st, U23 World Cycling Championships

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