theredgoose

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.