New Greg Lemond Interview

[HammerTime2]

Fascinating recent interview of Greg Lemond.

Getting shot, motor doping, drug doping, physiology, training methods/Lemond's book, Armstrong, Hinault, Kelly, and more.



0:00 Intro
2:11 Greg Get's Shot And Almost Dies (How Does He Get Back Racing?)
6:50 Dealing With Traumatic Accidents When Everything Goes Into Slo-Mo
8:54 Did Greg Believe That He Could Make A Come-back To The World Tour?
13:20 Greg Is Skeptical About The Power Numbers Todays Riders Have
14:25 No Teams Would Sign Greg For His Comeback
17:43 Gregs Highest Recorded V02 Max Numbers EVER!
18:47 Athletes Getting Signed Based On Their MyWoosh and Zwift Performances!
19:45 Gregs Insane Numbers And Racing Genes
24:05 One Of The Clear Signs Of Doping Is...
26:10 The Unnatural Weight Loss Of Cyclists
27:40 Greg Believes Motor Doping Is Really Happening
20:53 What Motivates Greg To Publicly Call Out Cheats?
33:25 I Lost That Tour de France Because Others Took EPO
35:30 Greg Has A Solution For Catching Dopers
41:45 Gregs Sour Relationship With Lance Armstrong
53:11 The Science Of How It Was Obvious That Lance Armstrong Was Cheating
56:15 Did Lance Armstrong Ever Apologise To Greg?
58:07 What Was Training Like & The Crazy Sessions Greg Was Doing In The 80s
1:02:50 Greg Get's Paid $1 Million To Sign For His New Team
1:04:00 Gregs Relationship With Bernard Hinault & All Of The Dram That Surrounded It
1:05:50 How Do You Organise Team Tactics When 3 Riders Are Capable Of Winning?
1:09:50 Hinaults Broken Promises To Greg
1:12:15 One Rule - You Don't Attack In The Feed Zone!
1:14:01 Hino & Greg Almost Have A Fist Fight After This Stage
1:17:40 Greg Was Tricked Into Letting Hinault Win This Stage
1:20:00 Gregs Win In 89 Was A Dream

[AJS914]

Has anyone heard of Paul Köchli's training manual that is mentioned ever making its way to the public as a pdf? It would interesting to read. (I did do a search.)

[Roel W]

He's talking obout the many bike changes during the motor doping discussion.
What is he talking about?

[AJS914]

He is saying that during the alleged motor doping era teams were doing frequent bike changes for seemingly no reason.

[HammerTime2]

Presumably, a motor might be in a bike used for some portion of the race, but the bike would be changed to a legal no motor bike for the finish, in case it was inspected after the race.

It seems to me, the only way to guard against that would be to inspect before the race all the starting and spare bikes that the team car is allowed to carry.

[kbbpll]

The cut at 56:30 got my attention, regarding the confidentiality agreement. Seems like he said something that got the lawyers' attention.

[MDecius]

I really enjoyed this, listened to it while doing a bike clean and patching a tube. It was asked quite early on if he had a "relentlessly positive attitude", and this really came through in the whole interview. Seems like your classic honest good guy. Pretty amazing that he was back on his bike racing the year after getting shot, and getting 39th in the TdF. I'd believe that his attitude would have a lot to do with that.

Of course there are all the controversies that folks will go looking for about "who is doping", "motor or not", etc. But I enjoyed the other parts of this more, particularly how he talked about training.

[paulski]

Has anyone heard of Paul Köchli's training manual that is mentioned ever making its way to the public as a pdf? It would interesting to read. (I did do a search.)

Same here. Searched extensively but came up with nada.

[BdaGhisallo]

I really enjoyed this, listened to it while doing a bike clean and patching a tube. It was asked quite early on if he had a "relentlessly positive attitude", and this really came through in the whole interview. Seems like your classic honest good guy. Pretty amazing that he was back on his bike racing the year after getting shot, and getting 39th in the TdF. I'd believe that his attitude would have a lot to do with that.

LeMond didn't ride the 88 TdF. His next ride in the Tour after getting shot was his win in 1989.

[MDecius]

I really enjoyed this, listened to it while doing a bike clean and patching a tube. It was asked quite early on if he had a "relentlessly positive attitude", and this really came through in the whole interview. Seems like your classic honest good guy. Pretty amazing that he was back on his bike racing the year after getting shot, and getting 39th in the TdF. I'd believe that his attitude would have a lot to do with that.

LeMond didn't ride the 88 TdF. His next ride in the Tour after getting shot was his win in 1989.

He said something about getting 39th the year afterwards? Or maybe he was referring to another stage race, I might have missed that while wrenching.

Just looked, he must have been referring to the '89 Giro where he got 39th on GC.

[mike]

greg lemond and andy hampsten. true american greats!

[HammerTime2]

Part 2 of the interview with Lemond. Many interesting things, some bizarre and incomprehensible.

Fignon held on to a car to get over a climb in the TdF. Claims of modern day motor doping. Bob Roll wore a wire to try to record Lemond saying something libelous. And much, much more. There are a lot more topics than mentioned in the chapter titles below.



0:00 Greg Is The Reason I Started Cycling
4:01 The Death Of USA Cycling
7:28 The Next American Tour de France Winner
8:37 “I Could Have Won The TdF At 18”
11:14 Back To The Start: How Did Greg Get Into Cycling?
18:55 Greg Wins Everything As A Junior!
23:14 Greg's First European Team?
25:29 Greg's First Time Racing In Europe
30:23 Realising He Has The Talent To Win The TdF
33:39 Racing Against Stephen Roche
39:12 1990 TdF: The Curse Of The Rainbow Jersey
46:27 Greg & Fignons Tense Relationship - “Fignon Was Cocky”
54:37 Pioneering Aerodynamic Kit
57:01 1990, Chiappucci & FINALLY having a loyal team
1:11:39 DOPING: Dramatic Change Between 1990 & 1991
1:19:14 How Open Was The Use Of EPO and PEDs In 1991 TdF?
1:29:00 “If EPO Didn’t Happen, I Could Have Won 5 Tours”
1:31:46 Reputational Damage Different Riders Had After Doping
1:37:54 Does Greg Have Sympathy For Lance Armstrong?
1:47:46 The Crazy Things Riders Are Now Doing To Win
1:58:30 Does Greg Regret His Battle With Armstrong?
2:05:01 Why Bob Roll Wore A Wire
2:11:26 It Never Gets Easier, You Just Go Faster