General Cycling Discussion - Greatest American Cyclist

Who's the greatest, Lemond or Armstrong? I believe that title belongs to Lemond.

Currently, i would agree with you, and say Lemond. However, ask me again in 2004, after lance takes 6 in a row ;)

John Boyer.

This man certainly deserves some attention:

www.majortaylorassociation.org/who.htm

Wow pete! Thanks for the link, great reading there!

major taylor is a great choice. There is a team out here in so calif. that is named after him. The Major Motion team.

Boyer would be a good choice if it were the Greatest American A-hole cyclist.

Andy Hampsten gets my vote,
no wait, Davis Phinney
no, Wayne & Greg Stetina (was that their name?)

actually of the two choices in original post,
Lemond for now, we'll see in a few years.
(IMHO winning the TdF doesn't make someone
the greatest).

Marty

Originally posted by RacerX
Boyer would be a good choice if it were the Greatest American A-hole cyclist.
'Twas a joke!

Armstrong.

Originally posted by Pete Clark
This man certainly deserves some attention:

www.majortaylorassociation.org/who.htm

Holy cow - this man and his story are all new to me. Great link - thanX!

I select neither. My vote is John Stamstad.
http://www.geocities.com/staminasports/
http://www.mtnbikehalloffame.com/inductees.cfm?page=99&mID=108

If you could put them both in the same TdF, both in their prime, I think Lance would win.

But LeMond, more than Lance, had a great personality and was an excellent "ambassador" for the sport. And he was popular in the peloton, too. Well, except with filet mignon, er, Laurent Fignon, Claudio Chiapucci, and Bernard Hinault. In terms of pure cycling, and training and work ethic, it's gotta be Lance.

They are/were both, in the TdF, the best in their time.
Both great. Both different.

Ignaz Schwinn, made the change from high-wheeler to the more traditional bicycle, in the 1890's...


Greatest non-american cyclist? Baron Karl von Drais!

Noone has mentioned Connie Carpenter...

I always thought Rebecca Twig was kinda' cute, myself :)

Floyd Landis for the future?

What about that guy that was in Bicycling magazine about a year ago? Freddie something I think. Didn't he have like over a million miles or something like that? I think he rides everywhere and eery day. He just goes out and rides and rides and rides.

I nominate Ned Overend, John Tomac, Juli Furtado and Steve Tilford, for your consideration.

Steve Tilford. He just keeps on going... champion at road cycling, mountain biking and cyclocross... not to mention triathlon. This guy can do it all, and has been doing it all since the early-80s. I remember one story of how he crashed in a MTB race and 41 bicycles ran over his head. He finished.

For pure grit, determination and love of the sport: Steve Tilford.

Good call.

Steve Tilford won the Fat Tire Crit at Sea Otter this March beating the top mountainbikers on earth. He was 41 or 42 years old, by the way. My Hero!

"If you could put them both (Lemond and Armstrong) in the same TdF, both in their prime, I think Lance would win."

I have to disagree with Roadbuzz on this one. Armstrong never rode against legends in their prime (Hinault, Fignon, Kelly....) and won. Plus, the Tours that Lemond road were at a lot longer.

Lamond for now, but soon to be Lance.

Carl

John Howard --- Fastest Man on Two Wheels --- 152MPH.

Tinker Juarez. May not have be/been a roadie, but blazed a trial in both BMX and Mountain Biking.

Not to mention, you seen any pull off dreadlocks and cycling as well as he has?

Lemond is the one that turned me into a junkie. I think Armstrong is awesome, but IMHO Lemond was the better ambassador of the sport, so far. I think Lance has that in him though. Like has been stated before if we get 6 straight we can talk.

I would have to say that Armstrong is my choice over Lemond. Look at what he overcame, and he is a fellow Texan.

Other honorable mentions
Ned Overend
Eddie Viola ( Remembe Rad the movie)
and most of all myself

Nelson Vales. The Cheeta.

Originally posted by SteveE
John Howard --- Fastest Man on Two Wheels --- 152MPH.
Even though he must have been drafting a truck or something,
I wonder how long it must have taken him to climb to 152 on a bike, truck or not. Going all-out for that long must have nearly killed him.

Armstrong

I f I recall correctly the bike was geared to a point where he couldn't pedal it until about 75-80 mph and had to be towed to that speed to even start.

"I would have to say that Armstrong is my choice over Lemond. Look at what he overcame, and he is a fellow Texan." SpiderMike

Lemond cheated death too. He still has lead shot in his heart lining. Lemond is still the choice of us roadies that raced in the 80s.

Without a bit of hesitancy, LeMond all the way. Dont get me wrong here, Lance deserves kudos as well, but look at both closely and its an easy pick.

LeMond raced against and was beating Hinault in the TDF before he was ordered to back off and support the badger for his 5th win. The next year when it hapened again, LeMond rode off to win the race with little or no team support. Most of the team had chosen to ride in support of Hinault! That alone is an incredible feat. Also considering he was racing throughout the entire year. Then to make the come back that he did after being shot in the chest with a shotgun (wouldnt you just hate to be his brother in law?), and suffering the beginnings of a disease that was slowly sapping his strength over the next few years. Yet he managed to win the sprint for the world championships one year and while on a 2nd tier team he won the TDF the next year and yet again won the TDF the following year before the disease and Indurain stopped him. That is enough in my books to make me a LeMond fan for perpetuity.

Armstrong is an incredible champion. His struggle with cancer was as great if not greater than LeMonds own stuggle. Yet LeMond was a winner before he was shot whereas Lance was at best just another decent rider in the peloton. It took the cancer to harden and focus Lance to the point where he became tougher than everyone else. I love watching him annhiliate everyone, in fact I just watched stage 12 where he crushed Beloki for the 2nd time in as many days. AWESOME.

Just my 2 cents. Armstrong is a great rider, but, LeMond is by far the superior rider. You can't base a rider's greatnest solely on the Tour de France. Armstrong bases his whole racing season on winning the Tour. In fact, it seems that the Tour and Worlds are the only race Armstrong does aside from other races he does for training purposes. However, LeMond raced in the spring classics, the Giro, the Tour and other difficult races. In each one of the races, he was a contender and he tried to win. For example, he's come close to winning Paris-Roubaix. 4th place finish, and then came 2nd in the Tour that same year only because he was told to wait for Hinault. Lemond placed third in his first Tour de France. Did Armstrong even finish his first Tour? To finish on the podium in your first Tour is truly a sign of greatness and natural ability. Plus, back in LeMond's era, the tour was much much longer and the mountain stages were much more difficult. There were more days in the mountains and the mountain stages overall had more climbs. And, you can't forget that Armstrong's Tour wins have come while being on a very strong team. LeMond's first Tour win was on a strong team that was supporting Hinualt, not LeMond. LeMond's second win was on a very weak team that had no ability to help him. In the end, it was a time trial that put LeMond on top of the podium.... Not team tactics. His third win was on a fairly strong team, but again, they didn't offer up a lot of help. And, we can't forget that LeMond had to contend with more riders Hinault, Fignon, Delgado, etc. Don't laugh at Delgado, he would have beat LeMond if he wasn't late for the prologue.

Also, lets not forget that LeMond was one of the first American riders in Europe. He not only had to contend other great champions, he had to contend with the fact that he was an American riding in Europe so he didn't get all of the respect that he deserved from the fans and other riders(example: The La Vie Clair team).

LeMond is a more diverse rider and he can win on his own. He can win the major stage races as well as win the one day events.

You can't base greatness on the Tour de France alone. If Armstrong wins 6 tours, does this mean that he's the greatest rider ever to live? Even greater than Eddy Merckx? I don't think so.