Greg Lemond: "It really blew my mind that the Armstrong era was even worse than the late 90's"
Cycling
Greg Lemond is 63 years of age but just as sharp with his words as when he was a Tour de France winner back in the 80's and early 90's. In a recent interview he talks about how he still dreams about racing the Grand Boucle, and tackles the topics of Lance Armstrong, doping and how he thinks he would've won more Tour if it wasn't for the doping epidemic of the 90's.
“Three or four times a year, I still dream about riding the Tour. I wake up and say to myself, ‘What am I thinking? I’m 63 and double the weight of the pros’,” Lemond jokes in an interview with CyclingWeekly. “I can’t imagine any other sport that has the same speed, intensity and competitiveness of cycling. I have a love-hate relationship with it because of the drugs and the closed-minded culture, but what’s more exciting than racing the Tour de France? I’m so glad I found cycling.”
It is a relationship that many from those eras struggle to handle. Throughout the 1990's and 2000's there were many busts on professional riders including many big winners. Few at the top managed to escape positive tests, whilst several others had their career either clouded by suspicions or their results had been clouded by the sheer amount of doping that was present in the peloton at that time. Many of those who did test positive were never 'forgiven' and maintain a very negative reputation with the sport until today.
Lemond was the first American Tour de France winner back in 1986, survived an almost fatal gunshot wound in 1987, and then returned to win the Tour again in 1989 and 1990. He is very honest about his feelings regarding what followed after 1990: "I also dreamt of winning five Tours, which logically I should have. I truly believe without EPO I would have won in 1991 and 1992.”
It was a success story like no other in men's professional cycling in the USA, and gave way for a generation that saw Lance Armstrong hit the spotlight. However for Lemond, who then became a commentator in the sport, it was never easy to be talking about rider whom he knew of wrongdoings.
“I just had to get into that position. It really blew my mind that the Armstrong era was even worse than the late 90's." This was equally as hard when he became a commentator for the sport: "I loved it, but it was hard to be enthusiastic for certain people who I had inside info on. It was painful.”
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"El gran duelo de Indurain y Lemond en el Tour de Francia de 1990" Miguel Indurain, logró una de sus mejores victorias de
— ⚡MazaCiclismo⚡ (@RuedaPedal) December 30, 2024
montaña del Tour de Francia en Luz Ardiden, ganando a Greg Lemond en la estación de esquí de los Pirineos, tras un ataque demoledor, al estilo Pogacar.🤩👏 pic.twitter.com/Pk8TOyJBRJ
The late 90’s is when Lance was winning . Greg must have meant late ?
Greg would have won in 1985 as well but unfortunatley team management deferred to Hinault.
I love that this guy constantly reminds us that he may be the only real miracle story, a heroic comeback to win 2 Tours at the start of the EPO era using only iron injections.
Believe what you want since I bet you are sceptical with anyone winning a Tour back then.
I believe that Lemond came back from a near-death gunshot wound and won 2 Tours at the start of the EPO age, and the only thing he injected was iron.
Lemond's bias against LA shows, not that it is unwarranted. The 1990-1999 era was 60% HCT era, the worst ever, completely unrestricted, God level, Its only after the 50% Hct rule came up that people came down to alien levels
Yes, although the rule (needed at the time but very simplistic and thankfully less important and improved since did bring along a lot of new problems. People with a higher natural value Women Not sanctioning raising lower levels up to an artificial higher one Sliding scale differences between different lab testing procedures Etc.
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