The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour De France by Daniel de Vise

Author:Daniel de Vise
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Autobiography, Cycling, Tour de France, Non-Fiction, Sports & Recreation, Sports, Sociology of Sports, Business Aspects, Biography
ISBN: 9780802165794
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2018-06-04T23:00:00+00:00

Laurent had gained the pink jersey of race leader in the cold; now he feared the cold would pry it from his back.

The cancellation of Stage 16, which had brought timely relief to Greg, felt like a karmic reward to Laurent, who felt certain he would have lost his lead in the icy mountains. In an ironic twist, Italian racing fans now turned on the race organizer, claiming he had annulled the stage to favor Laurent, just as he had scuttled a stage to aid Laurent’s opponent five years earlier.

Stage 18, a short time trial, nearly cost Laurent the race. Struggling mightily in the cold, he lost dozens of valuable seconds to his rivals. A young Italian star named Flavio Giupponi now stood just seventy-five seconds behind him, and a resurgent Andy Hampsten was in third, a few seconds farther back.

Just as Laurent’s lead looked doomed, the weather broke. No longer tormented by cold and rain, Laurent rallied to win a punishing mountain stage, fortifying his lead.

The race’s final stage was a fifty-four-kilometer time trial. Unlike the Tour, the Giro did not conclude with a ceremonial ride into the capital, and organizers were free to insert one last drama. Laurent did not win the time trial, but he limited his losses, finishing in fifth place, a performance strong enough to seal his victory in the Giro. As he uncorked the champagne, Laurent paused to meditate on all he’d endured in the past five years: the setbacks, the letdowns, the humiliations.25 His two Tour victories had cracked open the door to cycling immortality. Now the opening creaked a bit wider.

The next day, Cyrille Guimard, came to have a word with his team leader. He looked concerned. Guimard was already thinking about the Tour, and he wanted Laurent to know what was troubling him. He looked Laurent straight in the eye and said, “LeMond will be at the Tour.”26

Two days earlier, Laurent would not have cared. Now, suddenly, he did.

L’Américain, a man most of the peloton had given up for dead, had somehow ridden himself to second place in the final time trial at the Giro, a minute or two ahead of Laurent and all the other favorites. It was his most commanding performance on a bicycle since the summer of 1986.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.