The times, they are a-changin'

About LeMond vs. Trek again, I recommend this article in Cyclingnews: it is very complete and presents clearly both sides of the affair.

You can also get the full complaint filed by LeMond against Trek there:
http://www.trekbikes.com/pdf/media/en/03202008_Lemond.pdf

It's a lot about Armstrong and comments Greg made about him. I know I'm far from being objective about this, but I really don't see where Trek is trying to go by saying that Greg hurt Trek sales with being outspoken against doping. That's as close to being doping apologists as it gets...

Also from the complaint filed by LeMond, this little quote is quite interesting:

On November 27, 2007 (...) an attorney for Mr. Armstrong contacted Mr. LeMond's attorney. Mr. Armstrong's attorney indicated that he would like to broker a "truce" between Mr. Armstrong and Mr. LeMond because Trek would no longer be in a position to temper things between Mr. Armstrong and Mr. LeMond (...). The suggestion of a truce was interesting since Mr. Armstrong had only recently inserted himself and sought to damage Mr. LeMond's position in a property dispute that Mr.LeMond had in Montana.

Looks like someone is afraid of Greg. One can wonder why?

This affair puts into light how much the vision of the present state of procycling is a two-speeds thing, just as the peloton was/is still since the mid 90's.
A growing portion of cycling fans and journalists no longer have their heads in the sand and cannot accept anymore the statement that being outspoken against doping is damaging for cycling. Another part, which was the majority still a few years ago, thinks it's still possible to keep going with procycling in a status quo, and that people like Greg are damaging the sport.

I can imagine that, a few years ago, the same news that Trek wanted to drop LeMond bikes would have triggered on the internet a lot of comments in the spirit of "good riddance!". Now you can read here and there that people decided they won't buy Treks anymore... Reading posts on boards and blogs from a few years ago, compared to now, is really interesting. The contrast is striking.

Clearly, since about the beginning of 2007, the wind has turned. The Landis affair, the total fiasco that has been the Tour 2007, confessions by Riis, Zabel and others... how can you not want cycling to change?

As for cycling innovations, in the fight against doping, Greg has been ahead of his time. It's a sweet-sour feeling now, seeing people start to see that he was right, and at the same time wishing he's been heard before...