Originally Posted by
Leinster
Nobody in Ireland noticed when Stephen Roche won the Giro.
2 months later, when he won the Tour, every kid in the country (including me) wanted a racing bike.
It's the biggest because everyone wants to win it, and everyone wants to win it because it's the biggest. The 2 feed off each other.
Well Lemond's success was hugely inspirational but cycling in the states was beginning to take off even before then. I actually watched Lemond go by in the Manitou Springs to Hoosier Pass road race stage of the '79 Red Zinger Classic but I didn't notice him nor do I remember seeing him. He was only 17 years old at that time (and finished 4th in the GC) I didn't have a clue who he was until he won the race (by then the Coors Classic) in '81. I was watching for Mark Pringle and George Mount among others.
But then I wasn't even paying attention to European racing until Americans were showing up in numbers in the TDF and neither were Americans for the most part. The TDF put Lemond in the spotlight alright.