Last column of the Tour...

Greg LeMond's last column for the Tour 2009 is entitled "Pure talent, or simulated?"

I managed to save now all the columns of last week. If you didn't manage to get them, just let me know, I'll post them here!

Le Monde (the newspaper) mentions that all the money that Greg earned with writing those columns will be donated to 1in6.org.

Friday's column

"Bouche Bée", par Greg LeMond

I will be away for the full next week and won't be able to post links to Greg's columns. Check them out on Le Monde website!

Who is the greatest champion?

Very nice column by Greg LeMond today in the Le Monde! 

Greg starts by reporting what Lance Armstrong said about last year Tour, qualifying it of a sort of 'joke' and questioning how someone like Christian Van de Velde could finish 5th of the Tour. Armstrong recently (and only very recently...) apologized for his words. 

Greg also reminds us that Armstrong also criticized ASO chief Patrice Clerc for how he handled the Tour since he, Armstrong, retired: more positive doping tests.... which is a sign, for Armstrong, that things were going better before he retired. It's actually just a sign that controls have become more efficient. 

Greg then asks: Did Armstrong see the link between Van de Velde finishing 5th and this anti-doping stronger policy led by Clerc? Did he wonder whether it could be that this 5th position is the logical result of removing strongly doped riders from the field? Maybe Van de Velde finished 5th because that's where his natural talent can put him, and he could never express this talent in the middle of totally doped riders...

The last sentence of the column is simple: "Wouldn't the audience and people loving cycling like to know who is the greatest champion, even if his name is so far less known?"

The Greatest Tour of All

For once today, the first post is not Greg's column in the newspaper Le Monde, but an article in Procycling, where Greg talks about the spring of 1989 and how the last TT in the Giro changed all for him that year. 

Here it is: The greatest Tour of all.

A business where the unacceptable is accepted

Greg LeMond in his column shows his disgust about the possibility of legalizing PEDs, and his anger towards team directors who disregard riders' health as long as they can make money.

Throw away the radios!

Greg's opinion about radios...

"Drugs and radios make riders become robots"

Let the riders' talent and intelligence speak for themselves. 

Advice to Contador

In his column in Le Monde today, Greg LeMond explains how complicated the situation is for Alberto Contador, and that Armstrong is probably in a better place to win the Tour.

In either case, that would be a very dubious winner in my mind... 

Break the omerta

"Briser l'omerta". The title says it all. In his column, Greg LeMond recalls that cycling won't get clean if nobody listens to the riders who either denounce what they witness as far as doping goes or admits to doping and explain how they got PEDs. 

Mabuse, Conconi, Ferrari... in jail!

Greg LeMond's column today points out that riders are lab rats for unethical doctors such as Ferrari and Conconi, who don't care about riders' health... and those guys should be the ones going to jail.

The year the EPO changed cycling

Today's column written by Greg LeMond in Le Monde is entitled "L'année où l'EPO a changé le vélo". 

1991... the beginning of the end, not only for Greg, but also for other great riders of that time, and for us, spectators. Instead of watching humans riding back, with their good days and bad days, with surprises and drama, we had then, and still have, to deal with robots, who kill competition quickly. They are not writing the history of the Tour de France, they are just adding victories to a list. 

Life in yellow

Greg's piece in Le Monde today is about the yellow jersey, how his first race bike and jersey as a kid were yellow, and how the infamous "maillot jaune" can make you fly... or break you.

Laurent, my friend

Greg's Monday article in the newspaper Le Monde is about Laurent Fignon, and is entitled  "Laurent, mon ami".

I found it a very moving piece, because Greg clearly shows that he considers Laurent Fignon as a real friend, even though Fignon wasn't exactly nice towards him in his autobiography, which was just published, and also shows he is affected by Fignon's illness. 

I love how Greg doesn't try to answer Fignon's attacks but only shows his positive feelings towards him. High road always... 

LeMond as a journalist for Le Monde

I'm really sorry that it's been so so long since my last post. The summer time finally gives me a bit more free time, and with the Tour de France starting now, it's good timing! 

For a starter, Greg was invited as a speaker at the conference "Play the Game" and you can see the video here.

There was also a very extensive and nice interview in the Irish Times on June 27th.

And... last but not least, and for people reading French, Greg is now a journalist for the french newspaper "Le Monde".

I'm really happy that this newspaper gives him this important spot to express his ideas!