It is important to understand the environment of the sport in the 80’s to understand Greg’s experience.
In the 80’s testing was expanded in the sport. At first the penalties were weak. Often just a time deduction or suspension of a few weeks/months. While there was no OOC testing riders raced far more often and hence were tested often. Given the primitive options at the time most of the previously popular methods could be tested for. This resulted in many positives.
The sport reacted to this in different ways. Some, like Paul Koechli, saw an opportunity. Paul saw that doping was a risk if you ran a team. Cortisone ended many careers early. Steroids caused many connective tissue issues. These days you seldom see these issues but back in the 80’s it was common for a star rider to lose an entire seasons to knee or Achilles problems. Paul found that by reducing the number of racing days combined with advanced training methods could result in victory. Heart Rate monitors and even power meters were new to the game and Paul developed training methods still used today. Adrien Van Diem still uses many of the same programs to train VdV, Miller, and many riders today.
Other teams had a different response to this change. Previously doping had largely been a personal effort. This changed in the late 80’s. PDM hired team doctors to run a sophisticated doping programs. The year prior Greg was riding for PDM and he saw the direction they were heading. They attempted to pressure him into using Testosterone. Greg’s response was to negotiate an early end to his two year contract. This was big news in Europe as it confirmed what many in the sport had known for a long time, that Greg rode clean. It even made in
the LA Times
Put yourself in Greg’s position. It took a lot of guts to walk away at that point in his career.
Those who like to pretend that EPO was pervasive in the Peloton in 89, 90, 91 have no idea of what they are talking about. None. Not only was it not well known there was also huge confusion as to how to use it. Many early adopters reacted badly to EPO. Beyond the issues that come with a high Hct many riders found that they reacted adversely to the drug. Some saw that with their body suddenly consumed with producing RBC that EPO made then tired and it took them a few days to recover. This is why the common practice became injections the night prior to the rest day and prior to the race.
The early 90’s was a time of confusion in the sport. I was living in Europe at the time, knew many in the sport. Most were completely confused. They knew something had changed but could not figure out what it was. Greg was puzzled, The 1992 Tour was his hardest ever. Suddenly riders who had trouble finishing the Tour were at the front of the race. The watershed moment was 1994, Gewiss, dominating race after race. With Dr. Ferrari’s help they had perfected the process. Most point to 1994 as the inflection point between rider choice and mandatory.
Greg exited the sport and like many needed time away from it. Many like to pretend that Greg only became vocal about doping when Lance started winning the Tour. Anyone that has been around the sport for more than a few years knows that Greg has talked about the issue for years. Here is an interview from early 1998
http://www.roble.net/marquis/coaching/lemond98.html
The talent hasn't changed at all. I do think, however, that the Italians have changed the sport in a really bad way. It has become much more medical. There's no doubt that riders are probably fitter now at the beginning of the season. But that started in the mid '80s.
Bicyclist: Medical?
LeMond: Yes, medical.
Bicyclist: Drugs?
LeMond: [hesitates] I don't know that it's drugs exactly...
Bicyclist: Then let me restate the question. Do you feel that drug use is prevalent in the pro peloton?
LeMond: Well, it's hard to say. I don't know if it's drugs, but there are substances. I don't know that I buy the excuse by people who say they didn't perform well in a one-day race because the winners were on drugs. In a one-day race, there's no reason you cannot perform as well as someone taking drugs. EPO (Erythropoeitin, a naturally-ocurring and synthesized hormone that increases red blood cell count) just increases your red blood cells. Here in America you can train at altitude any time you want and get the same benefit from altitude as from EPO. Steroids, on the other hand, accelerate recovery. I went steroid free throughout my whole career. There were always rumors of guys taking stuff, but more than steroids it was the cortisone, the catabolic, not the anabolic. Of course there were tests, and people have been caught with testosterone. The Italians, somewhere in the '80s, figured out how to take small amounts to be on the legal side of it, which does help recovery and would help tremendously in a three week race. I've heard two sides of the drug issue. First of all, you have to understand the doping mentality. I don't think there's a rider in the peloton that prefers to take drugs. It's simply what doing to keep up with competition, and if they think everyone's getting away with it, they feel like they need to use it, too. Half of these guys haven't finished high school, have a wife and three kids at home, and if they don't perform, they won't get paid. The problem with Americans is that our ethics are sometimes a bit nave-don't get me wrong, the American ethic is really good, I like the American attitude, but it doesn't really bite into the reality of situation. I know my old teammate, Eric Boyer, retired because he didn't want to touch the stuff, and I know many other people who made it through clean, such as Andy Hampsten and Steve Bauer. Every rider on La Vie Claire was clean, that was Paul Keochli's big deal to make sure he had a clean team. But I do know in the early '90s there was a huge movement in Italy. Riders that had been racing for six or seven years were suddenly riding really well. To me, that looks a little suspicious. The drug issue is something I often thought about during my career. Toward the end, I always wondered, 'Is everyone taking drugs, while I stay clean, causing me to perform so poorly?' But there wasn't a drug in the world that would've helped me. One thing I do know is that a teammate of mine went to an Italian team and he died of a heart attack a year later. It was a little disappointing. I do think the riders are trying to say, 'Hey, we're for control testing.' The riders are the ones who pushed for the haematocrit level tests, so people would stay within the limits
.
LeMond was one of Lance’s biggest supporters for his first 2 wins. When it was made public that Armstrong had been working with Ferrari Greg had the same feeling that many in the sport had. It was like a punch to the stomach. When Greg said the following fans of the sport agreed with him
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
The response from Armstrong? He launched a campaign to smear Greg. There was a flood of articles that depicted Greg as a wacko. Message boards were flooded with new members with the same talking points….fat, bitter, jealous. Read the 2-3 comments Greg made back then you realize how absurd this reaction was. Lance threaten Greg, promising to find “10 people who will say you used EPO”. 10 years later, despite offers of 100’s of thousands of $$$ he has been unsuccessful. Not one former teammate, support staff, friend, etc has said that Greg doped. In fact quite the opposite, time after time those that were close to Greg during his career have said he rode clean.
The Trek case made it clear that Armstrong interfered with Greg’s primary source of income, his deal with Trek. Armstrong made a claim to a table full of people that he was going to make a call to Burke and sink Greg. Trek stopped supporting Greg’s line of bikes years before their agreement was up. They ignored multiple requests from distributors for product.
For almost a decade Armstrong harassed Greg. The best he can hope for now is to recover a portion of his reputation that Armstrong and his buddies worked so hard to shred
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