LeMond "Every rider on La Vie Claire was clean".

Had a bit of spare time today and was doing what I like
to do in those moments: read about Greg.

Greg states in an old interview with Bryan Malessa that
Paul Keochli made sure every rider on La vie Claire was
clean.

Another quote: " Michele Bartoli stated that he had two
heroes early in his career, Francesco Moser and LeMond".

Greg on Lance:

"Plus there's the fact that he was so often compared to me at the beginning
of his career that I think he may have resented that. Living in a country that
has produced only a few good riders, anybody that achieves any success
becomes 'the next LeMond." "It must get tiring after a while".

Sorry people but Lance never claimed the Super Prestige Pernod, check
Greg out in 1983!

Jack Maars:
"...Living in a country that has produced only a few good riders, anybody that achieves
any success becomes 'the next LeMond." "It must get tiring after a while".

What must get tiring to LeMond is that any rider who achieves any
success becomes "the next Armstrong." LeMond is a forgotten name other
than among diehard cycling fans.

Razorback wrote:
Jack Maars:
"...Living in a country that has produced only a few good riders, anybody that achieves
any success becomes 'the next LeMond." "It must get tiring after a while".

What must get tiring to LeMond is that any rider who achieves any
success becomes "the next Armstrong." LeMond is a forgotten name other
than among diehard cycling fans.

Forgotten by whom???

Besides Lance, and those who see fit to kneel before him, Lemond has
won...3 TdFs and was a much more interesting rider and racer than lance
'whatshisname'.

Lots of drug allegations whizzing around the last few years, all during
Lance's time racing the TdF only...none that I remember during the late
80s....Ya can like or dislike Greg, but I think he was a much more
exciting person to support than Lance. He was the first US racer to
win, and he has done much more than any other US rider I see in the
peloton these days.

wrote:
Razorback wrote:
Jack Maars:
"...Living in a country that has produced only a few good riders, anybody that achieves
any success becomes 'the next LeMond." "It must get tiring after a while".

What must get tiring to LeMond is that any rider who achieves any
success becomes "the next Armstrong." LeMond is a forgotten name other
than among diehard cycling fans.

Forgotten by whom???

Besides Lance, and those who see fit to kneel before him, Lemond has
won...3 TdFs and was a much more interesting rider and racer than lance
'whatshisname'.

Lots of drug allegations whizzing around the last few years, all during
Lance's time racing the TdF only...none that I remember during the late
80s....Ya can like or dislike Greg, but I think he was a much more
exciting person to support than Lance. He was the first US racer to
win, and he has done much more than any other US rider I see in the
peloton these days.

It was so great to watch Lemond progress. To see him get third place in
his first Tour (while also watching the epic battle of Fignon and
Hinault) was awesome. That third place got him on the cover of Sports
Illustrated. Then second place (in an epic battle with Hinault), and
then victory. We all felt as if we'd all achieved something. We saw
greatness actually develop. And we saw the development not just at the
Tour (or Tour warmup events). We saw it all season long.

Armstrong, was a promising young rider who enjoyed some of the early
success of Lemond. He showed great promise, but was clearly not a Tour
contender. Then he gets sick, and suddenly he is the most dominant
Tour rider ever. For me, something never quite added up. And Lemond
was probably scratching his head too.

I think Lemond is so skeptical because he knows that you don't just
"become" the winner of the Tour overnight. Not even the best Chris
Carmichael training plan makes you the Tour champion in 6 months. I
think lemond sees himself as having earned his place in history, and
seriously wonders if Lance did not.

wrote:

Armstrong, was a promising young rider who enjoyed some of the early
success of Lemond. He showed great promise, but was clearly not a Tour
contender. Then he gets sick, and suddenly he is the most dominant
Tour rider ever.



Dumbass -

He won Worlds at 21 years old.

Not a TdF contender at that point, but with that sort of motor at that
age, nothing could be ruled out.

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

wrote:


Then he gets sick, and suddenly he is the most dominant
Tour rider ever.

I think Lemond is so skeptical because he knows that you don't just
"become" the winner of the Tour overnight. Not even the best Chris
Carmichael training plan makes you the Tour champion in 6 months.

dumbass,

your memory is slipping.

drugs or no drugs, you are stupid to even suggest he became a tour
winner overnight.

armstrong raced most of the '98 season, with the famous time off after
which he had the string of 4th place finishes at the end of the season,
he was was also 2nd in the amstel in '99.

he didn't just check out of the hospital and win the '99 tour.

Dumbass,

Lemond had silvered when he was 19 or 20. 22 when he won it. And he
won it more than once.


Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
wrote:

Armstrong, was a promising young rider who enjoyed some of the early
success of Lemond. He showed great promise, but was clearly not a Tour
contender. Then he gets sick, and suddenly he is the most dominant
Tour rider ever.



Dumbass -

He won Worlds at 21 years old.

Not a TdF contender at that point, but with that sort of motor at that
age, nothing could be ruled out.

thanks,

K. Gringioni.

wrote:

Besides Lance, and those who see fit to kneel before him, Lemond has
won...3 TdFs and was a much more interesting rider and racer than lance
'whatshisname'.

dumbass,

this is revisionist claptrap i would expect from lafferty.

i am not a lance fan, but i don't have to try to convince myself that
lemond was somehow more "interesting".

Lots of drug allegations whizzing around the last few years, all during
Lance's time racing the TdF only...none that I remember during the late
80s....

uh yeah, and people talking on cellphones in theatres was also not a
problem in the late-80s. doping and drug detecting technology has
changed in 20 yrs.

wrote:
Dumbass,

Lemond had silvered when he was 19 or 20. 22 when he won it. And he
won it more than once.

dumbass,

you missed chang's point.

armstrong always has the talent to be huge. it didn't just appear on
july 1st 1999.

On 5 Jul 2006 09:20:52 -0700, wrote:

this is revisionist claptrap i would expect from lafferty.

i am not a lance fan, but i don't have to try to convince myself that
lemond was somehow more "interesting".

That revisionist claptrap has been around through the entire Armstrong
period - and I don't have to be a Lemond fan to find his riding style
more interesting. Armstrong's team tactics are more interesting, but
Lemond on a bike was more interesting and that's per a lot of opinions
going back nearly a decade.

Lemond is an irritating voice at times, but not as irritating as some
on rbr and he vested a lot more of his life in the sport. I can
understand his frustration a bit - I felt it to a much lesser degree
when the League of American Wheelmen turned into a industry lackey
from the late 1990s to now - an organization that was once centered on
bike clubs and club riders wouldn't know a bike club now unless you
made one from black hawthorne and beat them about the head. Sometimes
you do **** just to get a reaction from the people screwing up what
you once put time and effort into.

I've changed my position about Lemond, but not as a revisionist. Just
that it isn't enough to argue the same thing over and over - if the
issue is big enough, you have to put the effort into listening to the
other points of view as well. More and more, I think Lemond's comments
were justified in a 'pierce the fog' sort of way, even if they end up
never being substantiated.

My next bike may be a Lemond, although their image may never recover
from me riding one...

And one mustn't forget that La Vie Claire jerseys were kind of cool,
in a panache sort of way. Made Lemond's riding way more interesting.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...