LeMond

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beancounter

Well-Known Member
Location
South Beds
raindog said:
Love him or loath him,

How can you loathe Greg LeMond?

bc
 
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raindog

raindog

er.....
Location
France
"Love or loath" was just a convenient expression, but there are plenty of people around who don't like him.
 

yello

Guest
A passionate plea from leMond there. Hard to disagree with the intentions. It is only his words though and perhaps we need to see further action from others. I thought we had the 'beginning of the end' with Operation Puerto but there was/is clearly some work to do still.... or is there... queue McQuaid

Landis is just bitter and is claiming that all these guys doped because he got caught doping and thinks that other people got away with it

That sounds like a reasonable response in many ways, it carries some weight as it seems to reflect (known) facts, the official line as it were. But it can also read 'the drug testing is working, we are catching the bad guys there are no other dopers'. Maybe that's true, maybe not. I know what I think.

I can never quite get my head around LeMond's motivation. Is it as simple as a love for cycling and wanting to see it clean? As passionate as he comes across, I can't help but feel he's fuelled by something else... and that last sentence (caveat; selected by the journalist for a final twist to the article??) hints at it.

For my part, I think the truth is somewhere between LeMond/Landis and UCI. There IS doping but I just can't go for the mafia style control organisation that seems to be hinted at. I'm just not that much of a conspiracy theorist.

(With apologies to raindog for the cut and paste. We're both on a another forum and I didn't fancy rewording my post from there so I just lifted it. It's still my opinion after all!).
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
LeMond was the first American to win the tour and he put USA Cycling on the international map and quite rightly bathed in the fame and glory. Along comes Armstrong and knocks him off the perch and he can't hack it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
Location
Odawa
Keith Oates said:
LeMond was the first American to win the tour and he put USA Cycling on the international map and quite rightly bathed in the fame and glory. Along comes Armstrong and knocks him off the perch and he can't hack it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keith, normally you're a sensible guy, but when it comes to anything to do with Armstrong or the UCI, you don blinkers. Lemond is one of the most balanced, careful, ethical people out there. He's one of the good guys. And he's right.
 

wafflycat

New Member
Keith Oates said:
LeMond was the first American to win the tour and he put USA Cycling on the international map and quite rightly bathed in the fame and glory. Along comes Armstrong and knocks him off the perch and he can't hack it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sorry, but that's utterly wrong IMO. LeMond is looking increasingly like one of the few good guys and when he won the Tour back in 89, it was simply the most stunningly brilliant finish ever and the LeMond story behind it, about his gun injuries in a hunting accident and how he recovered from them is just as awe-inspiring as Armstrong's story. There's no 'knocking off a perch' in any way, shape or form.
 

yello

Guest
Keith Oates said:
Along comes Armstrong and knocks him off the perch and he can't hack it!

Oh Keith. That's just silly.

I'm sure there's a degree of resentment, in both directions, since there's an awful lost of history between the two (as you know) but Lemond is no spoilt brat.
 
The 'Lemond is just jealous' line is an old one that usually gets trotted out by Team Tex fanboys. Come on Keith, you're better than that.

And the more time goes on, the more respect I have for Lemond. He is indeed one of the good guys.
 

beancounter

Well-Known Member
Location
South Beds
Keith Oates said:
LeMond was the first American to win the tour and he put USA Cycling on the international map and quite rightly bathed in the fame and glory. Along comes Armstrong and knocks him off the perch and he can't hack it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just!!!!!!!!!Complete!!!!!!!!!!!Nonsense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bc
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
By 1989, I'd become extremely fat and unhealthy, barely able to walk up even a single flight of stairs. In the 3 years since graduating, I'd gone from being a skinny student (6'1", 10 st 10 lbs) to an obese (16 st 5 lbs) , stressed-out office worker. I was heading for an early grave. And then, Greg Lemond got me back into cycling...!

I came back from work one evening in early July, 1989 and stuck the TV on. The Tour de France coverage was on Channel 4. I was smitten.

I was inspired by Lemond's titanic struggle with Fignon and thrilled by the final time trial. I went out and put a bike a few weeks later. I thank Greg Lemond for that.

I've just watched that tour again on a DVD passed to me through the CycleChat 'library' and it struck me how hard the efforts made by the riders on the climbs were. They looked like they were being tortured, grimacing and pouring sweat. None of the kind of crap we've come to know through Ricco et al who charge up steep climbs as though they were flat, and hop off their bikes at the top as if they've just been for a ride in the park with their kids.

I'm sure that Lemond was riding clean, and damn sure that most of the Tour winners since him weren't.

Lemond struggled with the 1990 tour and then his career went into a nosedive. I remember it being blamed on ill health due to the lead pellets still in his body after his near-fatal hunting accident, but the same thing was happening to other great riders like Andy Hampsten. In hindsight, you can see the rise of EPO abuse in the peloton - just watch the old TDF coverage and watch the riders on the tough climbs, and observe how things changed in the early 90s.

Sure, Lemond is angry about what happened in the sport, but with good reason. I think that he genuinely wants a clean sport and I don't think that what he says is just 'sour grapes'.

There is so much money at stake, and doping is so much part of the sport that I despair at the problem ever going away but perhaps the scale of it can be reduced. I think people like Lemond who are not willing to just keep quiet are part of the solution.
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
Thanks for the comments on my posting. I could reply in some detail but I have not got the time or inclination except to say I will not retract the post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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raindog

raindog

er.....
Location
France
I suppose there's bound to be bitterness over the Trek affair, but I think LeMond genuinely wants change in the way the UCI works and wants bike racing cleaned up simply because he loves the sport.
 
raindog said:
I suppose there's bound to be bitterness over the Trek affair, but I think LeMond genuinely wants change in the way the UCI works and wants bike racing cleaned up simply because he loves the sport.
As Tex, McQuaid et al would have you believe, anyone asking awkward questions obviously hates cycling and wants to harm it as a sport. :wacko:
 
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