Archaea
07-29-2007, 01:20 AM
A review:
At the 1989 Tour de France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tour_de_France), with 37 shotgun pellets remaining in his body (including some in the lining of his heart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart)), LeMond was hoping only to finish in the top 20. Heading into the final stage, however, an individual time trial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_time_trial) finishing in Paris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris), LeMond was in second place overall. He was 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Fignon), who had won the Tour in 1983 and 1984. LeMond rode the time trial using then-novel aero bars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_bars), which gave him a significant aerodynamic advantage, to beat Fignon by 58 seconds to claim his second yellow jersey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jersey) with a final victory margin of 8 seconds – the closest in the Tour's history. As LeMond danced in victory on the Champs-Élysées (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champs-%C3%89lys%C3%A9es), Fignon sat and wept. Several days later, Fignon attributed his loss to saddle sores, which had hurt his performance. However, it was noted that Fignon had been overconfident on the last stages of the Tour, even congratulating LeMond on his second place, allowing LeMond to gain an advantage which proved decisive. LeMond's comeback was confirmed by winning his second World Cycling Championship road race several weeks later, beating Dimitri Konyshev and Seán Kelly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1n_Kelly_%28cyclist%29) in the final sprint. LeMond was named Sports Illustrated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Illustrated) magazine's 1989 "Sportsman of the Year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportsman_of_the_Year)", the first cyclist ever to receive the honor.
At the 1989 Tour de France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tour_de_France), with 37 shotgun pellets remaining in his body (including some in the lining of his heart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart)), LeMond was hoping only to finish in the top 20. Heading into the final stage, however, an individual time trial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_time_trial) finishing in Paris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris), LeMond was in second place overall. He was 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Fignon), who had won the Tour in 1983 and 1984. LeMond rode the time trial using then-novel aero bars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_bars), which gave him a significant aerodynamic advantage, to beat Fignon by 58 seconds to claim his second yellow jersey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jersey) with a final victory margin of 8 seconds – the closest in the Tour's history. As LeMond danced in victory on the Champs-Élysées (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champs-%C3%89lys%C3%A9es), Fignon sat and wept. Several days later, Fignon attributed his loss to saddle sores, which had hurt his performance. However, it was noted that Fignon had been overconfident on the last stages of the Tour, even congratulating LeMond on his second place, allowing LeMond to gain an advantage which proved decisive. LeMond's comeback was confirmed by winning his second World Cycling Championship road race several weeks later, beating Dimitri Konyshev and Seán Kelly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1n_Kelly_%28cyclist%29) in the final sprint. LeMond was named Sports Illustrated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Illustrated) magazine's 1989 "Sportsman of the Year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportsman_of_the_Year)", the first cyclist ever to receive the honor.