Lemond's Legacy: How Lemond Changed Cycling

[superleicht]

Eh Lance was never going to be a truck driver..American racers were not known to be escaping a life in the salt mines by becoming bike racers..but europeans were.. That might be why the salaries went up..Americans were like Eric Heiden ....doing a little bike racing before heading to medical school.
had to make it worth their while.

If not for Lemond, Lance probably WOULD have been a truck driver, or maybe a pro triathlete - don't believe he ever graduated from high school. But even back then, Lance saw that cycling paid better than tri's and made the switch. Heiden, on the other hand, saw that there was little financial future on skates or a bike. (His dad being a doc may have influenced him.)

No one in the states was making a real living bike racing in the early 80s. Hell, I'd throw away a chance of winning a race if it meant grabbing a $50 prime at some earlier point!

 

[Oldman]

Eh Lance was never going to be a truck driver..American racers were not known to be escaping a life in the salt mines by becoming bike racers..but europeans were.. That might be why the salaries went up..Americans were like Eric Heiden ....doing a little bike racing before heading to medical school.
had to make it worth their while.

Lance would have been what he is. A gigolo living somewhere in Texas. The difference now is the size of the body, the paycheck and lies he's willing to tell.

 

[scribe]

If not for Lemond, Lance probably WOULD have been a truck driver, or maybe a pro triathlete - don't believe he ever graduated from high school. But even back then, Lance saw that cycling paid better than tri's and made the switch. Heiden, on the other hand, saw that there was little financial future on skates or a bike. (His dad being a doc may have influenced him.)

No one in the states was making a real living bike racing in the early 80s. Hell, I'd throw away a chance of winning a race if it meant grabbing a $50 prime at some earlier point!

bob Roll would be managing a trailer park or a 7 Eleven (same thing), without lemond's success

 

[Bag_O_Wallet]

He did not do all of these first but popularized them

Using a wind tunnel to fine tune TT position
Reconing Tour stages
Less racing
Watt meters
HR based training
Carbon Frames

Can we add race radios to that list? I seem to recall him wearing a Giro lid that had a hefty microphone attached.

 

[Race Radio]

Can we add race radios to that list? I seem to recall him wearing a Giro lid that had a hefty microphone attached.

No, it was the Motorola guys who first introduced those

 

[movingtarget]

Possibly the biggest change he contributed to was ensuring riders started getting paid more realistic salaries including better sponsorship deals.

Unfortunately these days he sounds like the cleanest cyclist to ever throw a leg over the saddle...................holier than thou and it is getting boring.

 

[flicker]

Awesome training methods and first million dollar sponsored rider. Truck driver was never in Gregs future as Bob was in Real Estate during boom times at Lake Tahoe.

 

[eztarget]

I heard he invented the wheel. Prior to 1986 they rode with sqaure wheels.

 

[Granville57]

Jeezus. With one hundred different Lemond threads to choose from, I guess this one is appropriate (and I haven't even bother to read beyond the title).

Anyway...

Now OAKLEY, f'cking Oakely, is going even further with their hypocritical support of Greg Lemond.

Greg Lemond: Disruptor Series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpu5rjJPBHs


What a bunch of cowardly hypocrites the bike industry is full of.
All this Lemond love only came into play in the aftermath of USADA's Reasoned Decision. Tygart splashed some water on the Wicked Witch from Austin, and that made it safe for everyone to embrace Lemond again.

Is Greg any different today than he was five, six, seven years ago?
I've personally heard both dealers and reps bad mouth Lemond when Lance was still at the height of his powers. Now the whole industry acts as if Greg was recently unfrozen from a time capsule.

Greg! So nice to have you back! We ALWAYS loved you! You were an inspiration to all of us of for so long! WE LOVE YOU GREG LEMOND!

Of course we were far too afraid to mention any of this when Lance was still in power...BUT WE REALLY DO LOVE YOU NOW!

Btw, can we use you to sell our products again? WE LOVE YOU! Did we mention that part?

The entire industry has f'cking amnesia. Unbelievable. The guy was a leper, for how long? Now, he's the patron saint of products.

Not putting any of this blame on Greg. It's this new found chorus of gushing support that is so despicable in light of the fact that few in the industry dared stick up for him for so long.

What's next? The new Trek Badger Slayer? (Limited Edition, of course)

It's safe now! Lance is gone. Yay.

Hypocrites.



Btw, that whole "disruptor" stye of video editing is annoying beyond words. Good job marketing crew.


[Edit]
Apologies. I had assumed that this old thread had Clinic origins, but only just realized otherwise. If a mod wants to move, please do.

 

[yespatterns]

I'm just happy I can poop my bibs and if anyone comments I yell "Greg Lemond". Being chased by so many people all those times with toilet paper gets a little '28 Days Later' though.

 

[TANK91]

I dislike this man with a passion, he is so anti you no what yet he was in France sat in the back with Big Mig, and the says Ullrich would dominate etc...

He went after the 1 man who was a threat. Lemond had last laugh though but in most eyes LA is 7 times winner. As people no im a big Froome fan can you imagine outrage of LA doing Ventoux?

 

[stutue]

Lemond was the unwitting catalyst for the downfall of pro cycling.

Armstrong finished the job.

 

[rhubroma]

Lemond was the unwitting catalyst for the downfall of pro cycling.

Armstrong finished the job.

Naw the sport's been dirty since the primeval period. Although a case could be made that once real big money was to be made in it, which Lemond seems to have inaugurated, the culture of doping and corruption increased proportionally.

If this is what you mean by "unwitting catalyst," then I guess it's a fair assessment.

 

[stutue]

Naw the sport's been dirty since the primeval period. Although a case could be made that once real big money was to be made in it, which Lemond seems to have inaugurated, the culture of doping and corruption increased proportionally.

If this is what you mean by "unwitting catalyst," then I guess it's a fair assessment.

That is precisely what I meant.

Although, to be fair, EPO would have happened without the massive salaries, but the lies wouldn't have been so big because the exposure and scrutiny wouldn't have been there.

 

[jens_attacks]

legacy of staying in your rhytme, never go in red. wheelsucking becoming some kind of tactical manouevre.

 

[hiero2]

Jeezus. With one hundred different Lemond threads to choose from, I guess this one is appropriate (and I haven't even bother to read beyond the title).

Anyway...

Now OAKLEY, f'cking Oakely, is going even further with their hypocritical support of Greg Lemond.

Greg Lemond: Disruptor Series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpu5rjJPBHs


What a bunch of cowardly hypocrites the bike industry is full of.
All this Lemond love only came into play in the aftermath of USADA's Reasoned Decision. Tygart splashed some water on the Wicked Witch from Austin, and that made it safe for everyone to embrace Lemond again.

Is Greg any different today than he was five, six, seven years ago?
I've personally heard both dealers and reps bad mouth Lemond when Lance was still at the height of his powers. Now the whole industry acts as if Greg was recently unfrozen from a time capsule.

Greg! So nice to have you back! We ALWAYS loved you! You were an inspiration to all of us of for so long! WE LOVE YOU GREG LEMOND!

Of course we were far too afraid to mention any of this when Lance was still in power...BUT WE REALLY DO LOVE YOU NOW!

Btw, can we use you to sell our products again? WE LOVE YOU! Did we mention that part?

The entire industry has f'cking amnesia. Unbelievable. The guy was a leper, for how long? Now, he's the patron saint of products.

Not putting any of this blame on Greg. It's this new found chorus of gushing support that is so despicable in light of the fact that few in the industry dared stick up for him for so long.

What's next? The new Trek Badger Slayer? (Limited Edition, of course)

It's safe now! Lance is gone. Yay.

Hypocrites.



Btw, that whole "disruptor" stye of video editing is annoying beyond words. Good job marketing crew.


[Edit]
Apologies. I had assumed that this old thread had Clinic origins, but only just realized otherwise. If a mod wants to move, please do.

Hehe, the Trek Badger Slayer - good one!

I kinda liked the little vids - the "Disruptor" series - at least GL and Andy H. Some fun little history bits there. But, I hate that they come from Oakley though - I have to agree with you on the hypocrisy there. Them and Trek, throwing GL under the bus - and now Oakley comes back all smiles? I hope the money for GL is good - and I'm sure it is. The ultimate revenge - make the bast***s pay.

 

[jens_attacks]

the death of romantic cycling. the start of modern, watts-centred cycling

 

[Franklin]

Look pedals (he might still get a dollar per pedal)

That would Be B. Hinault.

The LeMond seat height formula

Again, you mean the Genzling seat heigth formula, used by B. Hinault.

 

[Echoes]

I hate LeMond but he has the right to be referred to by his real name : LeMond, with capital M.

LeMond never changed anything himself, he's the product of an era. Big domestique pay? Ask Alain Vigneron about that.

Focus on Bore de France, yeah but so did Hinault in his last 2 years. Actually that's Tapie's revolution. He realized that commercially a handful of races were enough to sell his goods. There was no need to waste energy on small kermesses.

Tapie was one hell of a bast*rd. He had by that time made a fortune in fooling Bokassa, buying out his castle at a very low price. In the 90's, he had left cycling for football, his name will be synonymous with corruption of referees (Marseille-Valenciennes match) and doping (admition by Waddle and Cascarino, there were constant injection in Marseille).

Tapie used cycling champion strictly for their commercial potential. He argued that a car name on a jersey did not sell any car (referring to the two main French teams at the time: Renault & Peugeot) but that the champions conveyed a formidable image. Tapie divided riders into two categories: those who are “associated with technical or industrial achievements” – these would gain huge income – and those “for whom cycling only consisted in pedaling” (those would just have their salaries which was low and sometimes every year lower, the case of Alain Vigneron). LeMond was in the first category – ‘LeMond only has money relationship with me’, he says – and signed a record 1 million $ contract for three years with Tapie. http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=1883

 

[Franklin]

Focus on Bore de France, yeah but so did Hinault in his last 2 years. Actually that's Tapie's revolution.

Let's stay with the facts. Bernard Hinault won the double Giro-Tdf in 1985. Also, in 1985/1986 Greg got 3/4 in the Giro. And Greg had a respectable classic season in both 1985/1986.

The facts don't support this part of the narrative.

 

[Echoes]

And yet Hinault's calendar in 1985 was much lighter than in his Renault years. Let alone 1986. He focused on stage races, while he formerly would race the classic springs through.

LeMond in 1986 raced the Tour of Italy as prep for the Tour of France and got beaten by Roberto Visentini, supposedly less talented (or was he?) and by Saronni who was way past his prime. He let the Tour of Switzerland to teammate Hampsten because it was not a race "of his standard".

But for sure, it's after the shooting accident that he started really spoiling the sport with his "do or die on the Tour of France" (as Fignon said in 1990).

 

[Wallace]

Some people seem to forget that LeMond was only 26 when his brother-in-law filled him with buckshot--and he still has lead pellets in him, including in his heart. He was never the same cyclist after the hunting accident. Before, he was competitive all year--2nd at Lombardia, 3rd LBL, 4th P-R, 2nd Milan-San Remo--that's pretty impressive for a 25 year old (how many pro cyclists riding now have been on the podiums of LBL & P-R?). If he hadn't been shot and almost killed, it seems pretty much a given that he'd have taken a few classics in his career. When I saw him speak at Stanford years ago (when the Stanford team rode LeMonds) he said the biggest regret of his career was not winning a classic. He also said that he was never the same rider after the accident.

LeMond is the great what-if. If he hadn't been shot, he might have had a career like Hinault's. Or not. I certainly don't think the pre-buckshot LeMond would have had any problem beating Roche or Delgado, but that's just my opinion.

 

[richwagmn]

Aero bars?
TT helmet?

Telling the cycling world that the only race that mattered was the TDF.

Nice to see that modern TDF winners now show up more than one race a year.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Some people seem to forget that LeMond was only 26 when his brother-in-law filled him with buckshot--and he still has lead pellets in him, including in his heart. He was never the same cyclist after the hunting accident.

I won't dwell on it here, but introduction of EPO to the elite peloton occurred at the same time. Visit The Clinic for more.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Telling the cycling world that the only race that mattered was the TDF.

Nice to see that modern TDF winners now show up more than one race a year.

You are pretending his considerable achievements did not occur throughout the cycling year. Which they did. Until the last couple of years of his career.

2014 elites race shorter events and quite a bit less frequently over a 12 month period.