Pro cyclist interview: Greg LeMond on the Tour de France
American great reveals excitement for Yorkshire Grand Depart and discusses what makes a Tour champion
Greg LeMond is a three-time winner of the Tour de France, and the only American to wear yellow in Paris. He won his first tour in 1986, but lost form and confidence after being shot in a hunting accident in April of the following year. It wasn’t until the 1989 Giro d’Italia that he began to feel like his old self again, and he regained the yellow jersey at the Tour later that year. He won the Tour again in 1990.
He also experienced great success in the UCI World Championship Road Race. He became the first American to win the race in 1983, and he won again in 1989 – completing the rare Tour de France / World Championship double in the process – by sprinting past Russia’s Dmitri Konyshev and Sean Kelly of Ireland in the closing stages.
Greg was born on 26th June 1961 in Lakewood, California, but grew up near Carson City, Nevada. He started his competitive cycling career in 1976, and won the first 11 races he entered. He finished second in the Tour of Fresno at the age of just 15, and, after representing the USA at the Junior World Championships, he turned professional in July 1980.
There is no doubt that Greg was one of the great all-rounders, who showed time and time again that he could both sprint, climb and time trial with the very best. Since retiring in 1994, he has concentrated on various business ventures as well as speaking out against drug use in the sport.