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news
Greg LeMond at the Play the Game conference, 2009 (CC BY-SA 2.0 Jens Astrup:Play the Game:Flickr)“Bullshit!” Johan Bruyneel on Greg LeMond’s insistence he won the Tour de France clean
Johan Bruyneel says that Greg LeMond’s insistence that he won the Tour de France clean is “bullshit!” The man who guided Lance Armstrong to seven Tour de France titles before both were banned from the sport for life for their part in the US Postal Service team doping scandal, also hit out at Bjarne Riis’s recent return to cycling.
In an interview with the Belgian weekly magazine Humo, Bruyneel attacked three-time Tour de France winner LeMond, one of Armstrong’s most vociferous critics well before the results of the United States Anti Doping Agency sanctioned the Texan in August 2012 and took away his seven victories in the race.
Winner of the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990 and world road champion in 1983 and 1989, LeMond has spoken out against doping since his racing days and has continued to campaign on the issue since retiring.
> Mechanical doping: “I won’t trust any victories of the Tour de France,” says Greg LeMond
“Greg LeMond always says that he is the only clean winner,” insisted Bruyneel, aged 55. “That’s a load of bullshit! He always rode for French teams who were the kings of cortisone.
“You can’t beat the best in the world who are doping without taking something yourself. LeMond was the best of his generation, just like Hinault Anquetil, Merckx, and Indurain,” Bruyneel continued. “And Lance Armstrong too!”
Bruyneel also slammed the managers of France’s leading professional teams – Marc Madiot, Vincent Lavenu et Jean-René Bernaudeau of, respectively, Groupama-FDJ, AG2R-La Mondiale and Total-Direct Energie, saying that they “continue to judge my past while everything they have done has been pardoned.”
He was particularly scathing about Bjarne Riis, who returned to the sport this year as manager of the NTT team and who, in 2007, admitted having doped his way to Tour de France victory in 1996 but has never been sanctioned for it.
“He deserves a second chance, the facts go back a long way, and happily he has the second chance because he certainly won’t make the same mistakes,” said Bruyneel, who is currently working as a sports consultant.
“I’m in the same situation as him but, when they want your head, you don’t stand a chance, he added.”
> Bjarne Riis calls Dave Brailsford “selfish” over Tour de France comments
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
He's so full of shit! Armstrong couldn't even finish a TDF before he was doped to the gills! Both of them are lucky they're not in jail.
Anyone of you ever see Indurain passing LA in TT like he was standing still?
We all know that the French, and the French Anti Doping Agency, went after Armstrong because he won 7 titles, how dare some damn American Pig win THEIR race 7 times in a row; so they went after Armstrong, but not Lemond because he was, after all, French, and therefore a sweatheart of the race.
What I can't figure out is why didn't UCI simply give the second place finishers in those races where Armstrong won the title instead? Maybe it was because they knew the entire peloton were ALL doping, which would have started a major fight, and thus the French would have to concede and give back Armstrongs victories, so no one won and therefore no hassles.
There's one slight problem with your theory. It was the US Anti-Doping Agency that went after Armstrong. As far as I understand it, they're not French.
And of course Greg Lemond, despite his surname, is very much and American...
The other slight problem is that shifting the number 2 finisher up in Armstrong's years would just mean giving the title to another very likely or proven cheat.
I am pretty sure that they knew that a good portion (perhaps all) of the riders at the sharp end of the peloton were doping to some extent and with so much time elapsed, it would have been hard to be sure and arguments would have dragged on for years. Nullifying the result was probably the right move and allowed the sport to move on into (what I hope will be!) a cleaner era of cycling.
Lemond suddenly used tri bars in the last time trial of the 1989 TDF that nobody else used - he beat Fignon by a huge amount to win overall, he used mechanical doping.
Interesting. I knew about the TT but not the bars. It is a shame we never get any similar final day show downs.
I guess like Trump, if you're in the game of lying and cheating everyday, you can't believe others aren't doing it too. Provide evidence or shut up Bruyneel.
There is no evidence on Armstrong doping, he was done through "Reasoned Decision". But this isn't just Bruyneel saying you can't win, every pro has said the same, just read all the autobiographies, when EPO came along that was a complete game changer, take it or not win… choice was simple, every winner of a stage race was using EPO
So a cheater is calling someone else a cheater. Yeah... that holds water. (roll eyes). I'd love to see the proof JB has to make such a bold claim. And really, unless he can come up with irrefutable proof, he should... like Lance... STFU and go far away from cycling, you know, for the good of the sport.
There was no "proof" for Armstrong, he was done through "Reasoned Decision"
USADA undertook a lengthy investigation, at the end of which they laid charges of doping against Armstrong, which the rider chose not to contest (supposedly to protect his family).
After continuing to protest his innocence he finally 'fessed up and admitted doping throughout his career.
Methinks you doth protest too much.
I don't know precisely what my level of confidence that Greg LeMond won clean is, but it is now higher than it was before hearing Johan Bruyneel's opinion. Bruyneel, and his buddy Armstrong, are sacks of human garbage. Like certain prime ministers and presidents, a good rule of thumb is to believe the opposite of whatever they say.
I see. Just to be clear, what prime ministers and presidents would you believe or, to give you some latitude, might you have a tendency to believe? You did single out only "certain" of their kind.
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