LANCE V GREG
By Frank Stinehart
It can be said that April 18, 2005, is a sad day
in the world of cycling. Lance Armstrong has announced his retirement. Six straight TdF, one
world championship and over one million of those
yellow bands that we (including myself) wear to
support the struggled for cancer. Yes Lance has
done everything that a human being can do in the
world of cycling. Very few sports figures in the world
are mentioned by there first or there last name,
Lance, Tiger, Jordan, Pele, Ruth and Lemond. Yes
Greg Lemond. In the cycling world we Americans
think of Lance as being the greatest cyclist ever. Not
so fast my friends, I would beg to differ with you.
Yes Lance has won six straight TdF titles, but
pound for pound it can be said that Greg Lemond
should and will go down as the greatest American cyclist.
If some corporation with a lot of money
knocked on your door and said that they wanted to start
an American cycling team and to start this team
you could have Lance Armstrong in his prime or
Greg Lemond in his prime most everyone would probably pick Lance, not a bad choice but probably
the wrong choice. Greg should be your man.
Pretty strong statement, but here is why Greg should
be the choice.
During the early to late eighties while Greg
was riding in Europe the Europeans did not fancy
an American cyclist dominating there sport, kinda
like a French ball player trying to break the Babe's
home run record, we Americans would not be to pleased.
So was the case in 1985, when a young Greg Lemond was riding for a European Team with
Bernard Hinault as that team leader (Frances
equivalent to a king). Bernard had won four TdF
titles when in the 1985 tour an American Greg
Lemond was leading the tour on his way to being the
first American to wear the Yellow Jersey but was told
by his team director that he had to slow down and
let his teammate Bernard catch up. Greg
disappointed but being the team player that he was did in
fact slow down relinquishing the lead for Hinault, which Hinault eventually won giving him his
5th TdF. And what did Greg get for this sacrifice;
well he was told that if Bernard would win in
1985, then he Hinault and the team would work for
Greg in 1986. Well Bernard did win in 1985, and
when it came to the 1986 tour, things did not go as
plan, Hinault attack Greg with all his fury forcing
Greg to attack his own teammate as well as the
other riders who had visions of winning the 1986 tour.
Wow can you imagine if that happened to Lance. What would have happened to Lance's physique
if that was to happen to him. Would he have been able to handle the pressure of being attacked
by riders in the peleton as well as his own
teammates? Greg handled both situations and did in fact
win the 1986 TdF, becoming the first American to
win the most grueling bike race in the world.
WHAT IS THE POINT? Well look closely, in the early
and late 80's sure Greg had a team and was the
captain of the teams that he did ride for but not only
did he have to worry about the other riders in the peleton he had to also worry about his own
teammates. Lance never had that problem, his team
was built around him, not so for Greg. His team
well, it was just a team by word only. What if
Tyler Hamilton or any of the other teammates
attack Lance as well as the peleton? Not a pretty thought.
That is what happened with Greg all during his tour riding. OK we get the point, Greg rode
basically by himself. ADVANTAGE GREG.
Lets go to the next level, the most important part
as to why Greg is a better rider then Lance. The competition.
Let's face it during Lance's reign we had global TV.
ESPN covered the tour all be it for only 1/2 an hour per night and on the weekends 2 hours
of coverage but hey it was something, then came
OLN (Outdoor Life Network) coverage of the whole
TdF, eight hours dvd's and at work you could even
listen to the tour on your computer...not to
mention what cycling magazines, Cyclesport, Pro Cycling.
where around when Greg was riding, you had Winning, Bicycle Guide, we inundated
with Lance...while Greg got this blip if he was lucky
on the local news media. The point here is that,
well nobody really knew the caliber of competition
that Greg had to face. Let's see while trying to keep
his team in check he was attacked by riders like a
young Miguel Indurain, Claudio Chiapuchi,
Gianni Bigno, Pedro Delgado (1988 TdF winner),
Laurent Fignon (1983, 1984 two time TdF winner),
Raul Alcala, Alex Zulle...the list goes on and on. Let's
see who was Lance's competition (if they were not kicked out of the race for doping) ...
Fernando Escartin, Richard Virenque (suspended for
drug use) Abraham Olano, Bolocki, Basso and
probably the best rider of the group Jan Ulrich (who
never showed up in riding shape). Each one of
Lance's competitors would have a hard time keeping
up with a Delgado, or a Fignon, a Zulle or for that matter a
Raul Alcala. Let's see a great team for Lance, hardly any
competition, put Greg in those tour years with a good team at his peak, and
seven wins would be a piece of cake. It is a lot easier going up those
climbs with a team member then by one's self. Lance had no
competition, a great team so you could say he might have had all
the tours handed to him, other then Jan, Lance had no competition. Let's not
mention that Greg holds the time trial record of
32 mph in the final time trial where he came from 52 seconds down to win the that years
TdF, where the 21 days of riding ranged from 100-155 miles each stage, nothing like what
Lance had to ride in any of his six wins. ADVANTAGE GREG
OK, Lance came back from deaths grip by winning his battle against cancer, no small feat.
When it comes to that, hey Lance is the greatest, but let's not forget that Greg to had a
brush with death when on a hunting trip he was
accidentally shot in a hunting accident. Over
forty shotgun pellets entered into Greg's body,
lodging in his back, legs in his small intestines, liver,
diaphragm and heart lining not to mention his
right lung collapsed. To this day Greg has over
thirty pellets in his body. Cancer gunshot
wounds. ADVANTAGE TIE.
Let's see I probably did not convince many in
regards to Lance v Greg, everyone already had
there minds made up but let's just give Greg his due
and perhaps when discussing Lance on our COP
rides, hey mention Greg in the same breath. To some
of us had it not been for Greg, we might be
playing golf, basketball or some other sport for leisure
and not bike riding.