Johan Bruyneel reveals Greg Lemond tests results and disputes Greg Lemond's "best VO2Max ever measured in cycling" claim

Greg Lemond is a three-time Tour de France winner, two-time World Champion and a rider who has marked the history of the sport in the 1980's and 90's. He was reported to have a VO2Max of 92.5mL/kg/min which is said to be the highest amongst pro cyclists that have achieved meaningful results up to this day. However, Johan Bruyneel disputes these numbers and seems to show evidence of a test result that reveals a much lower number.

The topic came about as in The Move Podcast, Bruyneel and Spencer Martin discussed the VO2Max estimate from a recent study on Tadej Pogacar, which seems to indicate a result of over 90. For reference, Lance Armstrong's was 84 whilst Chris Froome had 88. This value is a high indicator for performance in cycling at the top level, as it indicates the bodies' ability to transform oxygen into energy, a key part of endurance sports.

"Now that you talk about VO2Max, it's funny I talk about this because today I saw an interview of him again banging on cyclists who were post his generation or riders of his generation and accused them of doping, my 'good friend' Greg Lemond," Bruyneen said. "He's famous for claiming he has the best VO2Max ever measured in cycling, he says he's the only clean cyclist of his era". However Bruyneel takes issue with those statements from the American rider, retired in 1994 but still active in the cycling bubble.

"I knew we were going to talk about Pogacar so I was thinking has anyone asked Greg Lemond to prove if he had that VO2Max? Back in the days the measurement wasn't so sophisticated... I talked about this many years ago with someone... I actually have a result of a VO2Max test of Greg Lemond," the Belgian pundit says. He goes on to show a document on his phone which shows a test result of 74.7. Whilst this value can change depending on the rider's fitness - which is likely the case here too, the variation changes are noticeably large. This is a test from 1988, as he explains:

"I think it was the season before he went to ADR, in the time he had his hunting accident, so he was obviously not in great shape, he was overweight, didn't have great season at all. But I know that he was trying to find a team and there was one French team called Fagor who ultimately signed Stephen Roche instead of Lemond, but Lemond did a test with a doctor of that team and guess what: This doctor I met and here I have the VO2Max test of Greg Lemond when he was trying out for Fagor".

Hence Bruyneel completely disputed the validity of LeMond's claims of such value, and criticizes his 'grandstanding' over it together with his claims of doping in all his rivals. "Don't get me wrong Greg Lemond is a great athlete, great champion, he was very strong but there's nobody who has asked him 'ok you claimed to have the highest VO2Max result measured in cycling, show me the proof'."