Sorry guys I missed that thread !
I don’t come to that part of the forum very often, so I’ll try and catch up.
As for Fignon in 1989 :
He lost the Tour a little bit everywhere, and Greg LeMond won it a little bit everywhere. It’s not just a technical thing, it’s also mental and tactical.
Just giving you an example : on the stage to Briançon, Greg is in yellow. Mottet attacks on Col de l’Izoard. Greg counters. Laurent is dropped but he comes back in the descent.
The stage finishes in the city of Briançon, up a 800m, 15% steep climb. Mottet sees Fignon, says « I haven’t done all that for nothing » and attacks again. Fignon is dropped again, loses 13 seconds on that day. 5 more than his deficit in Paris. That’s one of the many places he lost the Tour.
Interestingly, Greg says Laurent would have won with the aero bars. But as interesting is Bernard Hinault’s take : he told me he doesn’t think the aero bars made such a difference. He believes it’s mental, that Greg was confident he had an edge on Laurent and that made him fly that day.
About Greg Vs Roche in 1987…
Well, first of all it would have been LeMond Vs Roche Vs Delgado.
Greg would have had a great lieutenant as Jeff Bernard in the team.
When I talked to him about it, Greg was a bit dismissive of Roche and Delgado. He said they were good but not in the same league as him, Hinault and Fignon. And it’s hard to disagree. If you take away 1987 and 1988, they hardly left a mark on the race. A lot of people fantasize about « what if Delgado didn’t miss his start in 1989 ? » but the truth is that after 1988 he never wore the yellow jersey or even won a stage again.
Roche had an incredible year in 1987. But he never confirmed it. Far from it. I mean good for him but it doesn’t really define the kind of rider he was. And… after speaking with a few of his old teammates, I can tell you they don’t really rate him as a leader. They rate Greg way more.
As for Greg Vs doping… it’s impossible to prove a negative. But, interestingly, his former both at the Z team, Roger Zannier, told recently in interviews, not once but at least twice, that Greg asked for a clause in his contract. The clause said that the team should not dope him or ask him to dope.
Also… when things went really bad with Lance Armstrong earlier this century, Armstrong sent his goons see Greg’s ex partners and teammates, offering good money to testify that he was doping back then. The money offered varies between 300 000 and a million dollars. And he couldn’t find anyone. It says a lot about Greg.