No miracle, just the measured effort of a confident Tour champion BY CHARLES HOWE

Critics have derided Greg LeMond for a lack of panache in winning the 1990 , but it actually provides an agreeable counterpoint to the previous year’s high drama, building with a slow but sure inevitability and showcasing LeMond at his best – loyal, patient, decisive, vigilant, aggressive, tactically astute, and able to do what it took to win – while providing plenty of excitement and plot twists of its own.

The pattern for much of the race was set on the first full stage, where the winning break of Frans Maassen, Ronan Pensec, , and Steve Bauer finished 10:28 ahead of LeMond and the other favorites. Each of the four would have his day in the sun – first Maassen, with the stage win, and then Bauer, who donned the yellow jersey for the second time in his career. With the kind of form he had for the 1988 Tour, when he finished fourth, and with the stronger support of the 7-11 team, it seemed possible that Bauer might keep the jersey all the way to Paris.

Showing enormous class, Raul Alcala dominated the first long time trial, held on a fast, rain-slicked point-to- point course, to become the first Mexican to win a Tour stage:

Stage 7, Vittel – Epinal ITT 1. Raul Alcala, 61.5 km in 1:17:05 (47.9 km/h) 2. , at 1:24 3. Giani Bugno, at 1:47 4. , at 2:05 5. LeMond, at 2:11 7. Pensec, at 2:26 12. , at 2:40 14. Bauer, at 2:43 15. Chiappucci, at 2:49 23. Maassen, at 3:22

Afterward, LeMond insisted that changing wind conditions had affected the result; he also appeared to go out too fast compared to the other contenders who started near him. In any case, of the four escapees, Bauer held on to his lead, while Chiappucci similarly limited his losses, but it was Pensec’s surprisingly strong ride that seemed to change race’s dynamic. Recruited to LeMond’s Team Z for his climbing ability, Pensec now emerged as a bona fide GC threat with all the Alpine stages still to come, while LeMond, in 7th place at over 10 minutes back, was cast in a support role for his teammate, and Alcala, lying 5th at 7:19, looked poised to attack with the support of the powerful PDM team.

According to expectation, Pensec took over the yellow jersey on stage 10, the first multi-pass ride through the high mountains, as Bauer conceded 1:38 to him and all the other contenders. Looming next was the Tour’s hardest stage, traversing the Madeleine (HC, 1984 meters) and Glandon (Cat. 1, 1950 m) before finishing atop the fabled L’Alpe d’Huez (HC, 1860 m). It all added up to more than 4600 meters (15,000 feet) of climbing, and as it had so often before, the pilgrimage to L’Alpe d’Huez produced its own special drama. With only one hand on the handlebars as he took a feed before the Glandon, LeMond hit a pothole, lost control, and crashed into an elderly spectator. “She was lying on the ground with her mouth open. I was worried because I read about a spectator dying after being hit by a rider. I asked her husband if she was all right, and he replied, ‘She’s okay. Go on Greg, get going!” LeMond, however, had to contend with an injury of his own before setting off. “I fell on my left hand. The middle finger was bent out at an angle. I had to pull it straight, and then push it back into its socket.”

With a trickle of blood running down his left shin, LeMond was soon joined by two teammates, and the 45 seconds lost to the crash were quickly made up. Then, on a short, steep climb that interrupted the long descent of the Glandon, he covered a clever attack by Delgado that took many by surprise, Bugno followed, and the winning break had formed. Their lead of 2:35 at the bottom of the descent of the Glandon would dwindle going up the Alpe, as Delgado weakened, while LeMond and Bugno eyed each other, the latter being concerned with the stage win rather than the GC. The slackened tempo allowed a resurgent Breukink and to catch up, setting up a sprint finish.

BETH SCHNEIDER PHOTOGRAPH Through the final bends at L’Alpe d’Huez, LeMond led Bugno, trailed Breukink . . .

. . . into the final corner . . .

2 Into the final, sharp left-hand corner they dove in this “stadium of cycling,” with an estimated throng of a quarter-million roaring its approval, but LeMond, carrying too much speed, locked up his rear wheel and skidded, narrowly missing a red Coke cone at the edge of the road. As it turned out, his use of the front brake was hindered by the dislocated finger, forcing him to overcompensate with the rear. Bogged down in too big of a gear after regaining control, he fought back hard and led out the sprint, only to have Bugno come around him just before the line. It was the first Tour stage win for the 26-year-old Italian (and the first win on ‘L’Alpe’ for any Italian since in 1952), who had shown his class with a wire-to-wire win in the Giro just 19 days prior to the Tour’s start. The day’s most significant loser was Alcala, while Bauer’s collapse removed him from contention altogether:

Stage 11, St. Gervais – L’Alpe d’Huez 1. Bugno, 182.5 km in 5:37:51 (32.4 km/h) 2. LeMond, s.t. 3. Breukink, at 0:01 7. Andy Hampsten, at 0:40 8. Delgado, s.t. 10. Pensec, at 0:48 13. Chiappucci, at 1:26 30. Alcala, at 5:41 62. Bauer, at 21:45

. . . beaten at the line by Giani Bugno

3 Surprisingly, Pensec faded badly the next day’s ITT, even though it began with the Cat. 2 Côte d’Engins, a 13 km climb at a steep grade of 8%:

Stage 12, Fontaine – Villard-de-Lans ITT 1. Breukink, 33.5 km in 56:52 (35.4 km/h) 8. Chiappucci, at 1:05 2. Delgado, at 0:30 11. Alcala, at 1:22 3. Indurain, at 0:43 22. Bugno, at 2:42 4. Lejarreta, at 0:54 24. Hampsten, at 2:46 5. LeMond, at 0:56 49. Pensec, at 3:50

LeMond felt he was hindered by poor equipment choice – his team had him use a disc wheel which added 200 grams – and he lost time for a wheel change as well, while Chiappucci became the third rider from the opening-day break to wear the mailliot jaune, and the first Italian to do so since won the prologue in 1975:

1. Chiappucci 6. Alcala at 10:44 2. Pensec, at 1:17 7. Bugno, at 10:48 3. Breukink, at 6:55 8. Criquielion, at 11:23 4. LeMond, at 7:27 9. Lejarreta, at 12:46 5. Delgado, at 9:02 10. Hampsten, at 13:58

With Pensec out of the lead, LeMond was unshackled, and on the very next day, a hilly transitional stage between the Alps and Pyrenees, he and Team Z set to work, controlling the race making all the right moves as they attacked Chiappucci with a vengeance. The stage’s short distance – just 149 km, or less than 95 miles – made it super- aggressive overall, as “attacks and counterattacks zoomed forth like fireworks” that would mark the Bastille Day celebrations that night, including a solo effort right from the starting flag by that covered the first 34 downhill kilometers in 38 minutes – but the two moves that counted the most were made by Team Z. First Pensec slipped away with a 30-man group whose lead stretched to 90 seconds, making him the yellow jersey on the road. Glued to LeMond’s wheel, Chiappucci missed the break, and so was baited into chasing, along with his team, in order to defend the yellow jersey. Once the catch of Pensec was made, LeMond and Breukink made a classic counterattack that blew the race apart: “LeMond drops the guillotine,” blared the headline for the stage write-up in VeloNews, and indeed, it was vintage LeMond. Chiappucci was exhausted and could not respond, Delgado and Bugno were taken by surprise and missed the move, but Hampsten and several others were able to bridge up. LeMond and Breukink set a furious pace up the Cat. 2 Col de La Croix de Chabouret through a gauntlet of humanity that parted before them just in time, then LeMond pressed his advantage on the descent, opening up gaps on every curve as he covered the last 18 km in 17 minutes, but just before the wide finishing straight in the bike manufacturing capital of St. Etienne, he waived his four breakaway companions by, conceding the stage win as thanks for their cooperation. LeMond would later credit his Scott “Drop-in” handlebars for helping him get away, and wind-tunnel testing the next winter at the Texas A & M low-speed wind tunnel confirmed that they actually made him more aerodynamic than on his time trial bike. In any case, Chiappucci was also dropped by the main chase group . . .

Stage 13, Villard de Lans – St. Etienne 1. , 149 km in 3:20:12 (44.66 km/h) 9. Indurain, at 0:36 6. Lejarreta, at 0:30 23. Alcala, at 3:09 7. Delgado, s.t. 35. Chiappucci, at 4:53 8. Bugno, s.t. 76. Pensec, at 7:47 which brought his lead on GC down to just over two minutes:

1. Chiappucci 6. Bugno, at 6:25 2. Breukink, at 2:02 7. Lejarreta, at 8:23 3. LeMond, at 2:34 8. Alcala, at 9:00 4. Pensec, at 4:11 9. Hampsten, at 9:05 5. Delgado, at 4:39

LeMond now had his sights on Breukink as much as Chiappucci, and although they were able to nick the Italian for 10 seconds over the next couple days, the decisive showdown would come on stage 16: 218 km long, over the Col d’Aspin (Cat. 1, 1489 m), the (HC, 2114 m), and finally to the mountaintop finish at Luz-Ardiden (HC, 1715 m), with most of the 3400+ meters of climbing concentrated in the last 80 km.

4 Knowing he would be dropped if he merely shadowed LeMond, Chiappucci attacked just after the start of the Aspin, and soon built a lead of over 2 minutes which he maintained up the Tourmalet as Breukink, LeMond, and Delgado all watched each other and did . . . nothing! Finally, as the trio approached the steepest pitches which mark the last few kilometers of this fabled pass, LeMond realized that no one was going to chase, and decided he’d had enough of the waiting game. Sensing that Breukink was beginning to crack, he attacked several times, eventually drawing away with Delgado and Indurain. By the top, more than a minute had been made up on Chiappucci, while a gap of 50 seconds had been opened up on the redoubtable Breukink. LeMond kept the pressure on during the ensuing 20 km descent, and by the base of Luz-Ardiden, Chiappucci had been caught, while Breukink was 1:20 in arrears. Still the Italian persisted with his bravery, riding alongside LeMond and even casually offering him a bottle, but the reigning World Champion would have none of the bluff: “I knew he was faking me out, trying to make me think he was a lot stronger [than he really was].” For 6 km things stayed together, then LeMond showed some of the best climbing form of his career as he began an unstoppable charge that would erase 3:35 on the stage leader up the road and put 2:19 into Chiappucci as well as 4:16 on Breukink, who suffered his only bad day of the Tour.

LeMond essentially won the Tour on Luz-Ardiden, while Indurain (center), freed from his support role for Delgado, gave a preview of things to come.

Only Indurain and could stay on LeMond’s wheel, and in a move that would soon prove symbolic, Indurain came past LeMond for the win, much to the delight of the Basque crowd as they received one of their own as a conquering hero, while Chiappucci saved his precious tunic by a bare 5 seconds:

Stage 16, Blagnac – Luz-Ardiden 1. Indurain, 182.5 km in 7:04:38 (30.38 km/h) 14. Chiappucci, at 2:25 2. LeMond, at 0:06 20. Bugno, at 4:07 3. Lejarreta, at 0:15 22. Breukink, at 4:22 8. Delgado, at 1:38 27. Alcala, at 5:24 13. Hampsten, at 2:13 33. Pensec, at 8:39

LeMond’s win now seemed inevitable, but not everything proceeded routinely. The following day brought the last mountain stage, which began almost immediately with the Col d’Aubisque (HC, 1709 m), followed by the Col de Marie Blanque (Cat. 1, 1035 m) right afterward. With designs of taking the yellow jersey, LeMond was among a dozen riders in the second group on the road that formed and went a minute clear of the peloton by the top of the latter peak, following a strong attack by Delgado.

5 Suddenly, LeMond’s rear tire exploded, and he found himself without a teammate, nor was there any team car yet behind the newly-formed group, “[It was my] first flat of the whole year! I rode along on the flat and I looked left and right to see if there were any cyclists to give me a wheel, but there was nobody there. [The worst part] was not knowing if Roger was one . . . or three minutes behind,” he later recounted, referring to his Directeur Sportif, Roger Legeay. “I start thinking, ‘God, maybe the car’s three minutes behind. Maybe all the riders are at two minutes. Who knows how far back they are?’” Standing forlornly at the side of the road, he desperately tried to repair the tire, but soon gave up in frustration and hurled the wheel into the woods in with such force that he awoke in the night with back pains that made him summon a chiropractor.

Finally a new wheel arrived, but in his haste, the Team Z mechanic did not tighten the skewer enough, and it pulled over after only 50 meters. LeMond then received a spare bike. “Everything was happening at the worst time, and I was so mad. How could this be happening in the Tour?” Cresting the Marie Blanque, he was 1:27 down on the group he had been with, but was now accompanied by two teammates, with and another two waiting down the road in the valley below.

In desperation – “When I . . . heard how far down we were, I thought the Tour was lost. It seemed impossible to bring back 1:27.” – LeMond flew down the steep (8%), narrow, curving descent at speeds of 100 km/h, taking risks unprecedented in his 13 years as an elite and professional cyclist: “I went down that descent . . . I don’t even remember [it.] I just took [it] like I was crazed. I was just talking to a L’Equipe photographer, and he felt for sure I was going to crash. He said he’s never gone down a descent so fast. Thank goodness – although I felt sorry for him – there was a Colombian who had crashed on a corner that was extremely dangerous. If he hadn’t crashed, and I hadn’t had a warning, I would have definitely been in that gutter. I’ve never taken risks like that before, and I hope I never do again.”

The gap was down to a minute at the foot of the descent, with 63 km of flat-to-rolling terrain left to close the deficit, and LeMond’s panic turned to rage as it became clear that Chiappucci had broken the unwritten rule of never attacking a rider who had been stopped by a flat – and the Italian had four teammates helping him, to LeMond’s two! The gap was 0:32 when LeMond picked up the two teammates who were waiting ahead, and after a pursuit of 21 km, the catch of the Chiappucci-Delgado-Breukink group was made, whereupon LeMond – fluent in Italian – let the rashly aggressive Italian know how he felt: “Yesterday, on Luz-Ardiden, you’re a very good rider. But a good rider doesn’t do that. That’s unsportsmanlike. I’ll never forget it.” Later he would recollect, “All the favorites were in front, everybody was there. And if they were all bad sportsmen and said, ‘Let’s just screw LeMond,’ I’d have never come back. Luckily, there were guys like Breukink, who stopped Raul Alcala from riding – and Bugno didn’t ride. To me, those are the guys I’ll always respect . . . and I’ll always remember that.”

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In furious pursuit of Chiappucci, on the descent of the Col de Marie Blanque.

“I’ve never taken risks like that before, and I hope I never do again.”

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This image from the finishing straight of the Lac de Vassiviere time trial was included as a mini-poster in a commemorative issue of Winning magazine published upon LeMond’s retirement in 1994.

Three days later, LeMond sewed up his third Tour on the same rolling circuit at Lac de Vassiviere where he won his first stage in 1985. This time, however, he cruised to fifth place, doing just enough to build an adequate margin over Chiappucci as he received the Italian’s time splits at several points along the course. It was just this sort of measured effort (LeMond admitted openly that he did not give 100%), as well as his concession of the sprint at St. Etienne, that caused the French to disregard his winning exploits, and instead lament a supposed lack of ‘panache.’

Stage 20, Lac de Vassiviere ITT 1. Breukink, 45.5 km in 1:02:40 (44.27 km/h) 2. Alcala, at 0:28 3. Lejarreta, at 0:38 4. Indurain, at 0:40 5. LeMond, at 0:57 8. Delgado, at 2:21 13. Bauer, at 2:52 15. Bugno, at 3:12 17. Chiappucci, at 3:18 30. Hampsten, at 4:22

Americans were not blameless in this area, however: their light regard for Chiappucci was reflected in VeloNews’ prediction that he would “probably never again come as close to winning a major Tour.” Technically, it would prove true, since his third place the next year (to LeMond’s seventh) was by a margin of 5:56, while he finished 3:35 down in placing second in 1992, but he won the polka-dot jersey in both those years, and did it all without the benefit of any sort of ‘lucky break.’ He slipped to sixth in 1993 and abandoned the 1994 Tour, by which time had begun to eclipse him, but could still muster a runner-up spot in the 8 competition in 1995, and managed to finish both the Tour and the Vuelta in 1997, at the age of 34. Add in two seconds, a third, a fourth, and a fifth place in the Giro, plus three green climber’s jerseys and even the purple points jersey in 1991, a memorable solo win at Milan-San Remo in 1991, the 1993 Classica San Sebastian, and the runner-up spot at the 1994 World Championship Road Race, and you have a very distinguished palmares; in fact, LeMond had the same number of podium finishes, and never won a one-day classic. Of course, no one would call El Diablo a better rider than LeMond, and sadly, his surprising accomplishments have been tainted by his use of the performance-enhancing drug EPO.

FINAL GC 1. LeMond, 3403.8 km in 90:43:20 (37.52 km/h) 2. Chiappucci, at 2:16 3. Breukink, at 2:29 4. Delgado, at 5:01 5. Lejarreta, at 5:05 6. Chozas, at 9:14 7. Bugno, at 9:39 8. Alcala, at 11:14 9. Claude Criquiélion, at 12:04 10. Indurain, at 12:47 11. Hampsten, at 12:54 20. Pensec, at 22:54 27. Bauer, at 34:05 64. Maassen, at 1:22:14 LeMond equaled Tour greats Thys and Bobet with 198 starters, 156 finishers (21% attrition) his third win . . .

. . . while Z won the Team Classification by 16 seconds over ONCE. Left-to-right: Gilbert Duclos- Lassalle, Bruno Cornillet, Éric Boyer, François LeMarchand (obscured), Ronan Pensec, Atle Kvalsvoll, Jérôme Simon, General Manager Roger Legeay, and team owner Roger Zannier.

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