houtdffan is definitely trying to rewrite history here, seems to me. I vividly remember that whole mid-late 80's period and it's safe to say LeMond basically was up against it that whole period. Even in his '89 tour (post-gunshot), he finished with 3 teammates (ADR), the best being over 2 hours down and none of whom could or would do a lick of work for him. He essentially won that one on his own. As far as the 85 and 86 Tours are concerned, his greatest weakness was A) being American, and B) that he was too nice a guy; his career might have benefitted from him being a calculating, selfish *** like Hinault. Even his wife mentions he was just lacking in 'méchanceté'; Hinault on the other hand was dripping with it.
The guy was world champion in 83 as a 21 year old, won it solo with zero team help, Cyrille flipping Guimard flies halfway around the world to sign him, and on and on. If LeMond had been French and had a personality like Hinault's, and not been shot by his idiot brother-in-law he'd have won every Tour from 85 to 92; so much of his career was spent with indifferent to non-existent team support due to his being American. Go to his wiki page and check out his palmares; much of his career story is boiled down to the gunshot and rivalry with Hinault but in spite of the fact he wasn't part of the European clique he compiled an incredible record. He was a brilliant one day racer as well; if you've never seen it watch a replay of the 1989 worlds in Chambery...he single-handedly chases down Fignon with Konyshev and Kelly (!!!) in his wheel and still wins the sprint. All this growing up in California, nowhere near Europe, at a time when being an American rider was like being from the dark side of the moon.
The guy was arguably as talented a rider as nearly anyone who has ever thrown a leg over a bike; ridiculous to watch people try to rewrite history. Sorry, I realize this is off-topic, just couldn't help myself.