LeMond, Greg (1961—)

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LeMond, Greg (1961—)

Three time winner of the Tour de France (1986, 1989, 1990) and World Road Race champion (1989), Greg LeMond is undeniably America's most successful cyclist. As an ambitious young professional in the early 1980s, his uneasy relationship with team leader Bernard Hinault reached its boiling point during the 1986 Tour, when a clearly stronger LeMond ignored team orders to support his leader and went on to record his first victory and become the first American to win the race at the expense of what could have been a record-breaking sixth win for France's Hinault. LeMond's absolute commitment to winning the Tour and apparent indifference towards the one day "Classics" meant that he struggled to gain the recognition he surely deserved. Following a near fatal hunting accident in 1987, LeMond won his second Tour in dramatic fashion, finishing just eight seconds ahead of his nearest rival, the closest win in the race's history. This performance remains one of the most memorable ever witnessed—his improbable come-back performance won over a host of previously skeptical admirers. A muscle disorder forced LeMond to retire from competitive racing in 1994.

—Simon Philo

Further Reading:

Abt, Samuel. A Season in Turmoil. Boulder, Colorado, Velo Press, 1995.

——. LeMond: The Incredible Comeback of an American Hero. New York, Random House, 1990.