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Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France thrice and the Road Race World Championship twice, becoming the only American male to win the former.
LeMond began his professional cycling career in 1981. Two years later, LeMond became the first American male cyclist to win the Road World Championship. He won the Tour de France in 1986, becoming the first non-European professional cyclist to win the men's Tour. LeMond was accidentally shot with pellets and seriously injured while hunting in 1987. Following the shooting, he underwent two surgeries and missed the next two Tours. At the 1989 Tour, LeMond completed an improbable comeback to win in dramatic fashion on the race's final stage. He successfully defended his Tour title the following year, becoming one of only nine riders to win three or more Tours. LeMond retired from competition in December 1994 and was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1996. He was the first professional cyclist to sign a million-dollar contract and the first cyclist to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
During his career, LeMond championed several technological advancements in pro cycling, including the introduction of aerodynamic "triathlon" handlebars and carbon fiber bicycle frames, which he later marketed through his company LeMond Bicycles. LeMond's other business interests have included restaurants, real estate, and consumer fitness equipment. He is also a vocal opponent of performance-enhancing drug use in cycling and is a founding board member of 1in6.org, a nonprofit charity that assists male victims of child sex abuse.
LeMond grew up living an active, outdoor life. Hiking, hunting, skiing, and flyfishing were boyhood pastimes. The ranch country of the Sierra Nevada mountain range lent itself to such pursuits. A hyperactive youngster, LeMond believes that these outdoor activities helped keep him out of trouble. LeMond stated, "I was a boy who just could not sit still. I had trouble focusing in school. Parents and educators then did not have the skill set to diagnose and cope with what we know now was a classic case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD certainly was not the frequently medicated childhood disease it is today. My triumph over the symptoms was found atop two thin tires over many dusty miles." He also said, "That's one of the traits. It's the inability to sit down and to something you are not really interested in and absorb it. If they are interested in it, people with ADD excel in really good ways. When I got into cycling I would say the sport itself took a fog off my brain. I was able to absorb stuff I read. It changed my life."
LeMond attended Earl Wooster High School in Reno but lived too far away to participate in team sports. He soon biked almost daily to high school, often riding home from Wooster, taking a route over Mt. Rose, along to Incline Village, then south on Hwy 28, then downhill to Carson City, then to his home.
LeMond's introduction to cycling came in 1975, thanks to freestyle skiing pioneer Wayne Wong, who recommended the bike as an ideal off-season training aid. LeMond started competing the following year, and after dominating the Intermediate category (13–15) and winning the first 11 races he entered, LeMond received permission to ride against older, more seasoned competitors in the Junior (16–19) category.
In 1977, at age 15, LeMond finished second in the Tour of Fresno to John Howard, then the United States's top road cyclist and the 1971 Pan American Games champion. He caught the attention of Eddie Borysewicz, the USA Cycling's national team coach, who described LeMond as "a diamond, a clear diamond." LeMond represented the United States at the 1978 Junior World Championships in Washington, D.C., where he finished ninth in the road race, and again in the 1979 Junior World Championships in Argentina, winning gold, silver and bronze medals—the highlight being his victory in the road race. At age 18, LeMond was selected for the 1980 U.S. Olympic cycling team, the youngest ever to make the team. However, the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow prevented him from competing there.
Borysewicz, whom LeMond described as his "first real coach," wanted to retain his protégé through the next Olympic cycle and discouraged him from turning pro, but LeMond was determined. Nevertheless, while he was the reigning Junior World Road Champion in 1980, LeMond received no professional offers, and so in the spring of 1980, he joined the U.S. National cycling team for a six-week European racing campaign. There, LeMond finished third overall in the Circuit des Ardennes before winning the 1980 Circuit de la Sarthe stage race in France, thereby becoming the first American and youngest rider of any nationality "in the history of the sport to win a major pro-am cycling event in." That victory, and the subsequent press coverage, raised LeMond's profile in Europe and he was scouted at his next event (the Ruban Granitier Breton stage race) by Cyrille Guimard, the Renault–Elf–Gitane team's directeur sportif. Guimard said that he was impressed with LeMond's spirit, and told him, "You have the fire to be a great champion", before offering LeMond a professional contract for 1981 with Renault. After returning to the United States, LeMond won the 1980 Nevada City Classic, considered to be one of the most historic and challenging professional cycling races in United States. Despite eventually receiving several other offers to turn professional besides Guimard's, LeMond did not consider them seriously, and he signed with Renault in Paris on the day the 1980 Tour de France finished.
On April 11, 1982, LeMond broke his collarbone while racing the cycling classic Liège–Bastogne–Liège.Blumenthal p. 34 The injury forced LeMond to ride a reduced schedule before entering the World Championships, which were in Goodwood House, England that year. In the men's road race competition, LeMond broke for the line but was out-sprinted by Italian Giuseppe Saronni. Following the race, LeMond's American teammate Jacques Boyer accused LeMond of chasing him down in the final 800 meters. Saronni was very strong at the end of the race and flew past Boyer and LeMond, winning by five seconds over LeMond, with another five seconds back to Kelly. Boyer placed tenth. Bronze medalist Sean Kelly, a favorite to win the race, was with Saronni when he caught LeMond with about 200 meters to go, but he could not hold his wheel. Said Kelly: "I don't think that Boyer was fading ... He got quite a good gap. Nobody wanted to go after him ... Yes, LeMond chased down Boyer. Boyer was the only man up the road."
LeMond was supported by his teammate George Mount, who observed, "What's LeMond going to do? Throw his bike down in front of everybody because Boyer is such a good buddy of everyone? ... Hell no—he's going to start sprinting because it's less than 200 meters to go and the sprint's already been going for a couple hundred meters. LeMond made a good move and a good sprint ... Boyer was not going to win that race. The best he could have got was fifth or sixth place."Blumenthal p. 35
LeMond did not apologize. The U.S. team was not as set up as the European teams, and did not have an independent race to determine the national champion. Instead, the highest finisher at the World's was considered the national champion. LeMond had argued for the team to compete as the European teams did, but team management and Boyer voted against him. Thus, unlike the other teams at the world championship, the US riders were competing against each other. At age 21, LeMond was the first American pro to win a medal at the World's since Frank Kramer took silver in 1912. LeMond stated, "I'm racing for Renault and I'm racing for myself. It's a business and it's my living. To me, that second place was almost as good as winning, especially at my age."Blumenthal p. 31
Two weeks later, on September 20, 1982, LeMond won the mountainous 12-day, Tour de l'Avenir by a record 10 minutes, 18 seconds. The victory, and the time advantage LeMond held at the end, stunned Europe and provided broad confirmation that LeMond was indeed fuoriclasse.
The following year in 1983, LeMond won the Road World Championship in Altenrhein, Switzerland outright, becoming the first American male cyclist to do so. (Audrey McElmury won in 1969 and Beth Heiden won in 1980.) LeMond's cycling talent—his overall strength, climbing ability, ability to ride a fast time trial, and his capacity to recover quickly—all suggested LeMond would be an excellent prospect for the most demanding Grand Tours.
Hoping to end the season on a high note, LeMond entered the World Championships road race with the strongest team the United States ever fielded. Riders included Boyer and LeMond, as well as Andrew Hampsten, Ron Kiefel, Bob Roll and Eric Heiden and this time the American team was set up to help the three strongest riders in LeMond, then Hampsten and Kiefel. Throughout the race, LeMond answered repeated attacks and led many chase groups to contain dangerous breakaways, but by the final lap of the race, he was beginning to tire. However, LeMond was part of the group that was going to win, and while Hampsten and Keifel survived the race to this point, they were too far back to assist LeMond in the final . Inside the final kilometer, the last rider to launch an attack was former Tour and Vuelta champion Joop Zoetemelk. Being as he was 38 years old and long past his prime, none of the remaining contenders, including LeMond, Claudio Corti, Robert Millar, Moreno Argentin, or Stephen Roche, took the attack seriously at first. Zoetemelk opened a sizeable gap, but before long, it was in excess of 100 meters and quickly growing. He also had two teammates remaining in Johan van der Velde and Gerard Veldscholten, assisting him by riding at the front but not actually chasing, therefore slowing the chase group. Italian rider Moreno took up the chase, but he had nothing left to close the gap and actually put his hand in the air waving for the other riders to come forward and take up the pursuit. LeMond also had nothing left to chase down this final attack feeling that if he did, LeMond would not have anything left for the sprint and would not win any medal at all. In a notable upset, Zoetemelk beat the favorites to the line by three seconds as LeMond out-sprinted Argentin to take the silver. There was no controversy following this silver medal for LeMond, and he rode up alongside the Dutchman immediately after the race to congratulate him by saying, "Nice ride Joop."
For the 1986 Tour, LeMond was a co-leader of the La Vie Claire team alongside Hinault. Hinault's support seemed less certain the closer the race approached. An unspoken condition was that his help would be contingent upon LeMond demonstrating that he was clearly the better rider. Hinault was in superb form, and had the chance to win an unprecedented sixth Tour. Hinault chose to let the Stage 9 individual time trial be the decider for which rider would receive the full support of team La Vie Claire. Hinault won the Stage 9 time trial, finishing 44 seconds in front of LeMond. LeMond had bad luck during the stage, having suffered a punctured tire requiring a wheel change, and later in the stage a bicycle change was required when he broke a wheel. LeMond was frustrated with the outcome and the impact it would have on how the team would function for the remainder of the race. In Stage 12, the first mountain stage of the race in the Pyrenees, Hinault attacked the lead group and built up an overall lead. By the end of Stage 12, Hinault had a five-minute lead over LeMond and the other top riders. He claimed he was trying to draw out LeMond's rivals, but none of these attacks were planned with LeMond. He was clearly willing to ride aggressively and take advantage of the opportunities presented. LeMond was never placed in difficulty, except by his own teammate. The following day, Hinault broke away again early but was caught and then dropped by LeMond on the final climb of Stage 13, allowing LeMond to gain back four and a half minutes. The next three stages brought the Tour to the Alps. On Stage 17, LeMond and Urs Zimmermann dropped Hinault from the leading group, and the end of the day saw LeMond pulling on the yellow jersey of race leader, the first time it had ever been worn by a rider from the United States. The following day in the Alps saw Hinault attack again early on the first climb, but he was pulled back. Attempting an escape on the descent, Hinault was unable to separate himself from LeMond. The La Vie Claire team leaders were both excellent descenders. As they ascended up the next col, they continued to pull away from the field and maintained the gap as they reached the base of the final climb, the vaunted Alpe d'Huez. They pressed on through the crowd, ascending the 21 switchbacks of Alpe d'Huez and reaching the summit together. LeMond put an arm around Hinault and gave him a smile and the stage win in a show of unity, but the infighting was not over. Hinault attacked again on Stage 19 and had to be brought back by teammates Andrew Hampsten and Steve Bauer. Commenting on the team situation prior to the final individual time trial at Stage 20, LeMond offered the following with a wry smile: "He's attacked me from the beginning of the Tour De France. He's never helped me once, and I don't feel confident at all with him."
LeMond had to keep his eye on his teammate and rival throughout the race. Hinault rode aggressively and repeatedly attacked, and the division created in the La Vie Claire team was unmistakable. LeMond would keep the yellow jersey to the end of the race and win his first Tour, but he felt betrayed by Hinault and the La Vie Claire team leadership. LeMond later stated that the 1986 Tour was the most difficult and stressful race of his career.
The events effectively ended his 1987 season, and in October he announced he would return to serious competition the following February, with the Dutch PDM team.
With 35 shotgun pellets still in his body, including three in the lining of his heart and five more embedded in his liver, LeMond attempted to return to racing in 1988. His comeback was hampered by over-training which resulted in tendonitis in his right shin requiring surgery. LeMond missed the Tour for the second year running. Tensions in the relationship between LeMond and PDM were aggravated when LeMond discovered that doping was going on at the PDM squad. The result was that LeMond moved from PDM, one of the strongest teams in the peloton, to ADR, a team based in Belgium. The team was co-sponsored by Coors Light for American races. The deal was completed on New Year's Eve, just hours before LeMond would have been legally obliged to ride another season for the Dutch team. Joining the Belgian ADR squad allowed LeMond to continue to compete, but with teammates like Johan Museeuw who were better suited to riding Classics than Grand Tours.
Coming into the 1989 Tour de France LeMond was not considered a contender for the general classification (GC). His own most optimistic hope was to finish his final Tour in the top 20. Without the weight of expectation and other pressures of being a Tour favorite, LeMond surprised observers with a strong ride in the prologue in Luxembourg, finishing fourth out of 198 riders. Buoyed by the result, LeMond continued to ride well over the opening flat stages, winning the stage 5 individual time trial, and gaining the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification for the first time in three years. He seemed to ride himself into better condition during the first week's flat stages, and LeMond was coming into peak form by the time the Tour reached the mountains. He remained at the front of the race in the Pyrénées but lost the lead to his former teammate and rival Laurent Fignon on stage 10 in Superbagnères. Five days later, LeMond reclaimed yellow in the Alps, after the stage 15 mountain time trial from Gap to Orcières-Merlette. The see-saw battle continued, and when Fignon attacked on the upper slopes of Alpe d'Huez, LeMond was unable to go with him, placing the yellow jersey back on the shoulders of Fignon. Fignon held a 50-second advantage over LeMond going into the 21st and final stage, a rare individual time trial from Versailles to the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Fignon had won the Tour twice before, in 1983 and 1984, and was a very capable time trialist. It seemed improbable that LeMond could take 50 seconds off Fignon over the short course. This would require LeMond to gain two seconds per kilometer against one of the fastest chrono-specialists in the world. LeMond had done wind tunnel testing in the off season and perfected his riding position. He rode the time trial with a rear disc wheel, a cut-down Giro Bicycle helmet and the same Scott USA clip-on aero bars which had helped him to the Stage 5 time trial win. Holding his time trialing position, LeMond was able to generate less aerodynamic drag than Fignon, who used a pair of disc wheels but chose to go helmetless and did not use the aero bars that are now commonplace in time trials. Instructing his support car not to give him his split times, LeMond rode flat-out and finished at a record pace to beat Fignon by eight seconds and claim his second Tour de France victory. As LeMond embraced his wife and rejoiced on the Champs-Élysées, Fignon collapsed onto the tarmac, then sat in shock and wept.
The final margin of victory of eight seconds is the closest in the Tour's history. LeMond's average speed for the stage 21 time trial was, at that time, the fastest in Tour history. Since then, only the 1994 and 2015 prologues and David Zabriskie's 2005 time trial performance have been faster. The press immediately labeled LeMond's come-from-behind triumph as, "the most astonishing victory in Tour de France history," and while LeMond admitted that it felt almost "too good to be true", he personally rated it as "much more satisfying" than his first overall Tour win in 1986.
LeMond's return to the pinnacle of cycling was confirmed on August 27, when he won the World Championships road race in Chambéry, France. Late in the race with less than to go, the lead group, made up of three very strong riders in Steven Rooks, Thierry Claveyrolat, and Soviet star Dimitri Konyshev, were trying to hold on to fight for the victory amongst themselves when Laurent Fignon broke away from the pursuing group in an effort to chase the leaders down and solo to victory. On the final climb of the race, LeMond attacked in pursuit of Fignon on his own. Before long, LeMond had caught the Frenchman and not long after that the pair could see the lead group in front of them and they were quickly closing the gap. LeMond briefly dropped Fignon and caught the lead group on his own. Immediately upon catching Rooks, Claveyrolat, and Konyshev, LeMond moved to the front and set the pace as two other riders in Canadian Steve Bauer and Irishman Sean Kelly attempted to bridge the gap up to LeMond and the lead group. Bauer ended up getting a flat tire, essentially ending his hopes at a high finish, while Sean Kelly was able to fight his way to the front group, which was bad news for LeMond and the others as Kelly was one of the best sprinters in the world. Fignon was able to rejoin the lead group as well and as the race approached the finish Fignon attacked on numerous occasions trying to drop the remaining riders. Rooks also launched an attack to go for the solo victory but was caught by LeMond, Fignon, and the others. Inside the final kilometer, Fignon continued attacking trying to break free, but could not force open a gap and began to fall back as the sprint materialized, eventually finishing in sixth place. LeMond, Konyshev, and Kelly were the strongest riders when it came to the final sprint for victory, and they finished in that order. After the race, LeMond said that he did not feel well and even considered abandoning the race. With two laps to go, LeMond began feeling stronger and stated, "I was racing for the gold medal. I wanted that World Championship. And with one kilometer to go, I knew I could get it." He was only the fifth person in history to win both the Tour de France and the World Championship in the same year. In December, Sports Illustrated magazine named LeMond its 1989 "Sportsman of the Year", the first time a cyclist received the honor.
LeMond closed in on Chiappucci, and on stage 16, LeMond put his stamp of authority on the race during the final climb of Luz Ardiden. Late in this stage, after all of the breakaways had been caught, LeMond launched a devastating attack that no one could answer. Miguel Induráin was the only rider able to get on LeMond's wheel but it was LeMond dictating the pace all the way up the climb as Chiappucci, Delgado, and all of the other favorites fell further and further behind. While Induráin stayed with LeMond, he was not a threat for victory, but his performance put the cycling world on notice; he went on to win the next five Tours. Near the end of the stage, LeMond sat up and the Spaniard took the stage win, but the devastation of LeMond's competitors was all but complete as there was now only +0:05 between LeMond and the yellow jersey.
LeMond finally overtook Chiappucci on the final individual time trial on stage 20, where he finished over two minutes ahead of the unheralded Italian. LeMond at last had the yellow jersey, wearing it the following day as the Tour rode into Paris. He won the 1990 Tour without taking any of the individual stages. LeMond remains the last rider to win the Tour while wearing the world champion jersey. Over the course of the 1990 Tour, the perceived strength of the Z team was confirmed, as they led the team classification through most of the race, adding the team title to LeMond's yellow jersey. His 1990 Tour victory made LeMond one of just five cyclists to win three or more Tours. As of 2024, a total of eight cyclists have won thrice or more.
In September, LeMond attempted to defend his title at the 1990 UCI Road World Championships, but finished fourth, eight seconds behind the winner, his former teammate Rudy Dhaenens of Belgium.
In 1992, LeMond won the Tour DuPont, which would be the last major win of his career. LeMond also had a strong top 10 finish in Paris–Roubaix early in the season. He never won any of cycling's 'Monument' races, but LeMond had several high places in four out of five of them throughout his career including fourth in Paris–Roubaix, third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and second in Milan San Remo as well as the Giro di Lombardia.
In the 1992 Tour de France, LeMond started strongly and finished fourth in a breakaway on Stage 6 that put him fifth overall. LeMond maintained his fifth place until the mountain stages when he lost form disastrously and lost more than 45 minutes on the stage to Sestrieres before quitting the race the next day—when his compatriot and former domestique Andrew Hampsten won atop Alpe d'Huez. While LeMond claimed a serious saddle sore caused him to abandon, he had earlier stated, "My climbing is not like usual. I've climbed much better in the past Tours. This year I'm just not feeling my usual self."
LeMond did extensive endurance training on the road the following winter, but his performances the following spring failed to improve. LeMond had to abandon the 1993 Giro d'Italia two days before the final stage after difficult racing left him 125th on GCC and third-from-last in the final time trial. LeMond was too exhausted to enter the 1993 Tour de France. Following the 1993 season, he hired renowned Dutch physiologist Adrie van Diemen to advise him on a new technique to monitor training and measure performance. The (SRM) power-based training would make use of the watt as a guide to power output. In November 1993, LeMond confided to Samuel Abt that power output in watts would become the key metric. The watt has gained wide acceptance as the best measure of a cyclist's training performance.
The following year, LeMond began the 1994 Tour de France but found that he was unable to race effectively. LeMond had to abandon after the first week before the race had reached the difficult mountain stages. That December, he announced his retirement. At the time, the reasons for LeMond's increasing difficulties were not entirely known. At a loss, he speculated that a condition known as mitochondrial myopathy might be responsible for the difficulty he was having performing against the current riders."Greg LeMond Ending Career", Samuel Abt, International Herald Tribune, December 3, 1994 However, in 2007, LeMond speculated that he might not have had the condition after all, and suggested that lead Lead poisoning from the shotgun pellets still embedded in his body might have been responsible, the effects of which were increased by overtraining.Procycling, January 2008, appeared December 2007
LeMond has acknowledged since 2010 that the increasing prevalence of doping in cycling contributed to his lack of competitiveness. LeMond stated, "Something had changed in cycling. The speeds were faster and riders that I had easily outperformed were now dropping me. At the time, the team I was on, Team Z, became more and more demanding, more and more concerned..." He stated he had been told in 1994 that he would need to blood doping in order to win again. He frankly admitted to Abt in 1999: "I figure I had three months that went right for me after the hunting accident," three months in which LeMond won the two Tours and a world road race championship. "The rest were just pure suffering, struggling, fatigue, always tired."
In a wide-ranging interview with American novelist Bryan Malessa in 1998, LeMond was asked if his career had not been interrupted by the hunting accident, how did he feel he would compare to five-time Tour winners such as Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin. LeMond responded: "Of course you can't rewrite racing history, but I'm confident that I would have won five Tours."
Two years after his retirement, LeMond was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Robert Rodale in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. The event was held on June 8, 1996, during the U.S. Olympic Cycling Team Trials.
In July 2014, ESPN announced the premiere of a new 30 for 30 film entitled Slaying the Badger. The film centers on LeMond and his former teammate Hinault at the 1986 Tour de France. It is based on the book of the same name by Richard Moore, and it premiered on ESPN on July 22.
A 2022 documentary entitled The Last Rider directed by Alex Holmes for New Black Films, features Lemond, and wife Kathy, and details Lemond's life and career.
LeMond found himself at odds with Trek in July 2001 after he expressed public concern over the relationship between Italian doping doctor Michele Ferrari and Trek's star athlete, Lance Armstrong. Drugs issue refuses to go away due to winner's Ferrari links . The Guardian. Retrieved on August 21, 2011. www.cyclingnews.com news and analysis . Autobus.cyclingnews.com. Retrieved on August 21, 2011. Paging Doctor Ferrari . Bicycling.com. Retrieved on August 21, 2011. www.cyclingnews.com news and analysis . Autobus.cyclingnews.com (February 13, 2002). Retrieved on August 21, 2011. Trek president John Burke pressured LeMond to apologize, claiming, "Greg's public comments hurt the LeMond brand and the Trek brand." Burke allegedly justified his demand for an apology by advising that, "As a contractual partner, he LeMond could criticize doping only generally – not point his finger at specific athletes, particularly one that happens to be the company's main cash cow." Armstrong reportedly said privately he could "shut him up" by contacting Trek, as documented in affidavits by Frankie Andreu released in the 2012 USADA doping report. Statement of Travis Tygart of the USADA on US Postal Team USADA v. Lance Armstrong, Oct 2012, pages 53-54. Lance Armstrong and his ties to Trek , Don Walker, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Business of Sports. October 10, 2012. LeMond issued an apology for his comment. LeMond clarifies Armstrong criticisms . Cbc (Canada) (August 14, 2001). Retrieved on August 21, 2011.
In a 2007 interview, LeMond accused Armstrong of trying to sabotage his relationship with Trek bicycles.Interview in Rouleur, Guy Andrews, issue five, p. 26 In March 2008, LeMond Cycling Inc sued Trek for failing to properly promote and distribute the LeMond brand, and for attempting to "silence" LeMond's public comments about doping, attributing this to the influence of Armstrong on Trek. Complaint, LeMond Cycling Inc, vs Trek Bicycle Corporation , 2008 3 20, retr 2012 10 13. from trekbikes.com. His complaint included statistics detailing slow sales in some markets, including the fact that between September 2001 and June 2007, Trek only sold $10,393 worth of LeMond bikes in France, a country in which LeMond was both famous and popular. Trek responded in April 2008, announcing that it was dropping LeMond Bicycles from its product line and that it would sue to sever the licensing agreement. TREK TO IMMEDIATELY SEVER RELATIONSHIP WITH GREG LEMOND , Media Release, trekbikes.com, 2008 4 8, retr 2012 10 13.
As promised, Trek counter-sued and stopped producing bicycles under the LeMond brand. After nearly two years of litigation, LeMond reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with Trek in February 2010. The settlement permitted the case to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that "neither side can produce the same claims against one another in a future lawsuit." Although settlement terms were not disclosed, LeMond reportedly obtained full control over the LeMond Bicycles name, while Trek made a donation of US$200,000 to the charity 1in6, of which LeMond was a founding member of the board of directors.
On October 16, 2017, Australian politician Sarah Henderson announced that LeMond Composites would receive AU$2.5 million (US$ million) in Australian Federal Government funding to establish a carbon fiber manufacturing plant in Geelong, Australia.
In 2001, LeMond received intense criticism when he publicly criticized Lance Armstrong's relationship with Dr. Michele Ferrari. Ferrari is an Italian physician and sports trainer who admitted to practicing blood doping and advocated the controlled use of the banned substance erythropoietin by athletes. Upon learning of Armstrong's association with Ferrari, LeMond stated:
"When Lance won the prologue to the 1999 Tour I was close to tears, but when I heard he was working with Michele Ferrari I was devastated. In the light of Lance's relationship with Ferrari, I just don't want to comment on this year's Tour. This is not sour grapes. I'm disappointed in Lance, that's all it is."
LeMond's comments placed him in the center of an anti-doping controversy. About a month later, following pressure from both Armstrong and Trek, LeMond issued an apology for his comment; he called Armstrong "a great champion", and added, "I do not believe, in any way, that he has ever used any performance-enhancing substances. I believe his performances are the result of the same hard work, dedication and focus that were mine 10 years ago."
In 2004, LeMond spoke out again. On the heels of successive Tour de France wins by Armstrong, LeMond said, "If Armstrong's clean, it's the greatest comeback. And if he's not, then it's the greatest fraud." LeMond went public with the fallout of his 2001 statement, alleging that Armstrong had threatened to defame him and threatened his business interests as well:
"Armstrong basically said 'I could find 10 people that will say you took EPO' ... The week after, I got multiple people that were on Lance ... Lance's camp, basically saying 'You better be quiet,' and I was quiet for three years. I have a business ... I have bikes that are sold ... and I was told that my sales might not be doing too well if ... just the publicity, the negative publicity." LeMond questions Armstrong's associations . ESPN (July 19, 2004). Retrieved on August 21, 2011.The same month, LeMond told French newspaper Le Monde that Armstrong was "ready to do anything to keep his secret. I don't know how he can continue to convince everybody of his innocence." Reporter denies Lance's allegations . ESPN (July 17, 2004). Retrieved on August 21, 2011. At a press conference Armstrong gave in September 2008 to announce his return to cycling, LeMond publicly challenged him with questions about doping. Armstrong appeared angry and interrupted LeMond, telling him it was time to move on. In August 2012, the USADA announced that Armstrong had been issued a lifetime ban from cycling competition due to his involvement in a massive doping scheme. In addition, the USADA stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.
LeMond has also clashed with fellow Tour rider Floyd Landis regarding the doping issue. On May 17, 2007, LeMond testified at a USADA hearing convened to weigh the evidence of doping by Landis during the 2006 Tour de France. Under oath, LeMond described a phone conversation he had with Landis on August 6, 2006, as well as another with Landis's business manager, Will Geoghegan, on May 16, 2007, the evening before LeMond appeared to testify. The major points of the testimony were:
In 2007, Landis was found guilty of doping and was banned from cycling for two years. In 2010, he admitted to having been involved in doping. That same year, Landis apologized to LeMond for the events of 2007. "Cyclist Armstrong Denies Doping" Reed Albergotti, Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2010
On July 23, 2009, LeMond wrote an opinion article Alberto, prove to me that we can believe in you. Lemonde.fr (July 23, 2009). Retrieved on August 21, 2011. in the French newspaper Le Monde where he questioned the validity of Alberto Contador's climb up Verbier in the 2009 Tour de France. In the piece, LeMond pointed out that Contador's calculated VO2 max of 99.5 mL/(kg·min) had never been achieved by any athlete.Moore p. 58 LeMond stated, "The burden is then on Alberto Contador to prove he is physically capable of performing this feat without the use of performance-enhancing products." Contador tested positive for clenbuterol after winning the 2010 Tour and was later stripped of his title and suspended from cycling for two years.
LeMond has criticized the UCI and its former president, Pat McQuaid. In December 2012, LeMond claimed that a change needed to be made in the leadership for the UCI and stated if called upon he would be willing to take the position himself if necessary to lead cycling out of the mire of doping. Said LeMond: "It is now or never to act. After the earthquake caused by the Armstrong case another chance will not arise. I am willing to invest to make this institution more democratic, transparent and look for the best candidate in the longer term." McQuaid rejected LeMond's call for new leadership and was dismissive of LeMond. Ultimately, McQuaid was defeated in his bid for a third term by British Cycling president Brian Cookson at the September 2013 UCI Congress in Florence, Italy. LeMond had supported Cookson in the UCI Presidential battle.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper in October 2013, LeMond was asked if Armstrong perpetrated the greatest fraud in the history of sports. LeMond stated:
"Absolutely. Absolutely. The greatest fraud was that -- I mean, I know his physical capability. He is a top 30 at best. I mean, at best. No matter what. If he was clean, everybody was clean, he was top 30 at best. He is not capable of, not -- capable of the top five."LeMond added, "He manipulated the cancer community. I mean, I have family members with cancer. Everybody has been affected -- by cancer. But it was the manipulation and using that as -- a way to, like, it was like Teflon. He used the money, he used the foundation to -- not only cover for him but also destroy people." Cooper then asked LeMond what should happen to Armstrong before LeMond said that Armstrong should go to jail, and LeMond said, "This is not a sporting infraction. This is criminal."
LeMond is an avid outdoor enthusiast and fly fishing, and in 1991 – while still racing full-time – he made the world-record fly fishing catch of a four-pound smallmouth bass on a reel with a four-pound tippet. The record was certified by the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin. The catch exceeded the then-previous record of three pounds, six ounces made on the same size tippet back in 1986. LeMond confessed, "I always pack my fly fishing equipment when I travel to bike events. I fish every chance I get."
After retiring from pro cycling, LeMond competed in Formula Ford 2000 series auto racing. He is also a motivational speaker. LeMond narrated an award-winning documentary for Adventures for the Cure in 2008.
On July 16, 2007, LeMond rode the L'Étape du Tour cyclosportive with his son, and found it to be a defining moment in his post-competition life. "I had the time of my life", he said, despite getting "650th place" and being "impressed that I even finished". LeMond continued, "I decided that day that nobody's going to keep me from cycling, not Trek, not Armstrong, not Hein Verbruggen, not anybody." At the time, LeMond was alluding to a series of public and private disputes related to his anti-doping advocacy that hampered his enjoyment of cycling. Especially significant was LeMond's appearance as a USADA witness in the Floyd Landis doping case. At that time, Landis's business manager threatened to expose the fact that LeMond was a survivor of child sex abuse.
Several weeks later, LeMond and his wife Kathy gave an extensive interview to Paul Kimmage of The Sunday Times. LeMond provided additional details concerning the circumstances of his 2001 apology to Armstrong, stating that Trek, the longtime manufacturer and distributor of LeMond Racing Cycles, had threatened to end the relationship at the behest of Armstrong if he did not apologize. LeMond described the two years following the apology as the worst in his life, marked by self-destructive behavior; ultimately, that behavior led LeMond to tell his wife that he was a survivor of child sex abuse and to seek help in addressing that past trauma. LeMond described how being a victim of molestation had impacted his life and his racing career. In September 2007, LeMond became a founding board member of the non-profit organization 1in6.org, whose mission is "to help men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood live healthy, happy lives".
LeMond was in a car accident on the morning of January 30, 2013. He lost control of his car while driving through wintery and icy conditions to his dentist in Wayzata, Minnesota. LeMond suffered a concussion and was left with no memory of the incident. According to Associated Press, a Plymouth police report says LeMond left the road, hit a fence and shrubs, and then hit an embankment before ending up in the backyard of a home. LeMond may have lost consciousness before the accident, according to his wife Kathy, and he suffered a compression fracture in his back and would have to wear a brace for three months. The accident curtailed LeMond's public appearances in the first half of 2013, but he made a full recovery.
On September 19, 2019, the United States House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill, submitted by California Representative Mike Thompson, to award LeMond the Congressional Gold Medal. The bill was approved by Congress on November 16, 2020, and signed by president Donald Trump on December 4. Upon signature of the bill, the White House released a statement, saying the medal was awarded to LeMond "in recognition of his service to the Nation as an athlete, activist, role model, and community leader."
In June 2022, LeMond was diagnosed with non-life-threatening leukemia.
| Milan–San Remo | — | 17 | 30 | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | 22 | — | 140 |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | 15 | 7 | 11 | — | 30 | 63 | — | — | — | 25 | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — | — | — | 4 | 30 | — | — | — | — | 55 | 9 | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | 78 | 3 | 17 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| + Legend |
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