{"id":947537,"date":"2026-10-31T11:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T11:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947537\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T11:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T11:42:12","slug":"lemond-makes-explosive-accusations-against-lance-armstrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947537\/","title":{"rendered":"LeMond makes explosive accusations against Lance Armstrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond<\/a> lashed out at his compatriot Lance Armstrong<\/a> in an in-depth interview with Le Telegramme<\/a> . The two have been at odds for some time, and LeMond\u2019s latest remarks are unlikely to change that anytime soon. \u201cIf I run into him, I won\u2019t say hello.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the interview, LeMond discusses his entire career. The American won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989, and 1990, but ultimately retired relatively early in 1994 at the age of 33. \u201cLook, I\u2019m sure that if I had used EPO, I would have won the Tour more often. Very easily, in fact,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

“When I finished seventh in 1991, it completely shattered my morale,” he says, referring to the beginning of the EPO era. \u201cYou see riders you wouldn\u2019t expect\u2014who suddenly pull away from you. That was a very difficult period. For me, it left a very bitter taste in my mouth about cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"lemond<\/p>\n

Greg LeMond in the 1986 Tour de France, alongside Bernard Hinault.<\/p>\n

LeMond heard things from a mechanic about Armstrong<\/p>\n

LeMond retired in 1994, just a few months after Armstrong became world champion in Oslo. \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t really have any doubts about him back then,\u201d he begins his story. \u201cWhen he won the Tour de France in 1999, I thought: he\u2019s lost a lot of weight, which is normal in itself, and he underwent those blood tests afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

“But the problem was that my mechanic, who had also worked for him before, told me everything in 2000,” LeMond continues his story. \u201cOnce I had all that information, I thought: What is he actually doing? It\u2019s highly likely that he paid the UCI. People were already saying back then that they had paid the UCI.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I thought: it’s all the same\u2014everyone uses performance-enhancing drugs, and everyone’s on the same level. That’s what you say in situations like that. But if you pay the UCI and then aren’t tested, that’s not right,” said LeMond, who is critical of Armstrong’s character.<\/p>\n

\"greg<\/p>\n

Greg LeMond in 2019.<\/p>\n

LeMond would not greet Armstrong<\/p>\n

“It was mainly about how he treated people, because he treated me terribly for a very long time. I still remember the day he treated Pantani that way on Mont Ventoux. His attitude toward other riders\u2014that really made me furious,” said LeMond.<\/p>\n

The three-time Tour winner was publicly berated by Armstrong on several occasions. \u201cHe was pulling strings behind the scenes everywhere; it seemed like he wanted to destroy me. He\u2019s done things I can\u2019t even talk about publicly because they affect my family, but one day I\u2019ll reveal them. What he got up to about seven or eight years ago borders on the insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

What would LeMond do now if he ran into Armstrong? \u201cI don\u2019t even want to talk to him, because he\u2019s a bad person. He and Johan Bruyneel\u2014they\u2019re two assholes. Bruyneel is such a jerk, too. Everyone says he\u2019s always got something to say about me and tries to spread rumors. It just never stops with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"lance-armstrong\"\/<\/p>\n

Lance Armstrong and Greg LeMond will never be friends.<\/p>\n

LeMond won’t compare Armstrong to Poga\u010dar”I actually never talk about Lance Armstrong, except around this year’s Tour, when people wanted to compare him to Tadej Poga\u010dar,” LeMond says, referring to his comments from July.<\/a> \u201cAt the time, I mainly wanted to emphasise that it\u2019s impossible to dominate the Tour the way Armstrong did, unless there was more doping going on back then than we know about now. I can\u2019t prove it, but there\u2019s no form of doping that could have boosted performance like that back then. On the other hand, Tadej\u2014now that\u2019s a true natural talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I know the physiology and the wattages very well. It used to seem as if there was only one dominant rider per generation or team (like at Sky), whereas now you see multiple talents like Tadej at the top,” said LeMond.<\/p>\n

LeMond doesn’t rank Lance Armstrong among the greats of cycling<\/p>\n

\u201cArmstrong was compared to the greats back then, but if you look at a rider like Jonas Vingegaard\u2014who has an enormous VO2 max of 96 and is also ten kilograms lighter than I was back then\u2014it makes sense that he rides up the mountain so incredibly fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pogacar also appeals to LeMond. \u201cI love his attitude. Both he and today\u2019s generation of riders exude sportsmanship and aren\u2019t so negative. Back in the days of Sky and Armstrong, there was a very dark, gloomy atmosphere. In any case, I\u2019m enjoying cycling again; I may not follow every stage in its entirety, but I do watch a lot of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also watching with interest as the next generation of superstars begins to emerge. \u201cHere\u2019s the thing: we call Tadej exceptional, but that\u2019s almost become the norm by now. However, when you see how guys like Seixas are already being talked about, it gives me confidence that pure, natural talent, thankfully, still rises to the top.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond lashed out at his compatriot Lance Armstrong in an in-depth interview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,166093,90670,301239,85,6494],"class_list":["post-947537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-greg-lemond","tag-lance-armstrong","tag-latest-cycling-news","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}