Tanned, Talkative and a Celebrity : LeMond, Tour de France Winner, Resumes Racing Today

Greg LeMond’s victory in the grueling 2,500-mile Tour de France brought him fame and fortune. But the boyish cyclist’s favorite moment after his triumph was a meeting with President Reagan.

“That’s something that for me was probably one of the biggest honors because I think it kind of legitimizes what I’m doing,” said LeMond, who begins America’s version of the Tour--the Coors International--in San Francisco today.

LeMond, 25, is well-known in Europe. But Americans really took notice of him and his sport only after his victory two weeks ago in the world’s top bicycle race, a grueling 24-day competition from Paris suburbs through the Alps and finally across the finish line in the French capital.

“I think my victory had a big impact, bigger than I expected,” said LeMond, the first American and the first non-European to win. “I have to admit I’m happy about it. It’s about time this sport is recognized as a major sport in the world.”

LeMond, friendly, talkative, thin and tanned, lives with his wife, Kathy, and their 2 1/2-year-old son, Geoffrey, in Belgium for eight months a year and in Reno and this suburb of Sacramento the other four.

He first started racing at 14 to strengthen his legs for skiing. By the time he was 17, LeMond had already set his goals: to become Olympic champion, world champion and winner of the Tour de France.

In 1980, he became the youngest captain of a U.S. Olympic cycling team, but the U.S. boycott prompted him to turn pro and move to Europe.

“It was probably better that I never even raced in the Olympics,” he said. “If I had, it might have changed my whole career. At the time, cycling was not big in America so it could have stagnated my growth.”

He won the world title in 1983, then finished third in his first Tour de France the following year. Last year, he finished second in the Tour to his French friend and mentor Bernard Hinault, a teammate with La Vie Claire.

“I played the ideal teammate last year,” LeMond said. “I could have won the Tour de France, but I literally put on my brakes. Had I been selfish and just gone for it, I could have had a Tour de France victory last year.”

Team Manager Maurice Le Guilloux insisted that LeMond let Hinault catch him. When he did, the Frenchman promised to see that LeMond would win in 1986.

That pledge was a source of controversy in the 1986 Tour because Hinault, who won the race five times previously, seemingly abandoned his promise and decided to seek a record-tying sixth victory.

Hinault later said he only pushed LeMond to the limit to arouse a “killer instinct,” but LeMond disagreed.

“He went for it and everything he did was for him to succeed. It just so happened I was equally strong as, if not stronger, than he was, and he ended up blowing himself up in a couple of the stages. It worked in reverse for him,” he said.

“I look back now and I’m glad he did it because it made my victory that much better. It would have been terrible if he had been stronger than me and given me the victory,” he said.

He admits their relationship is now “strained,” but LeMond said he will not hold Hinault’s actions against him.

LeMond said he would only like to race in Europe another five years, because “I still have a life I’d like to continue in America.”

His contract with the La Vie Claire team is being renegotiated this year, and if he is not satisfied, LeMond said he may leave and try to form his own team with an American sponsor.

LeMond won the 12-year-old Coors International last year and in 1981 and said he will “race to win” this year, but he may have a problem getting motivated after winning the Tour.

The Coors International is a 17-stage race spread over 15 days across 1,065 miles in California, Nevada and Colorado. The first events will be a 1.05-mile time trial to Telegraph Hill in San Francisco today, followed by the 39.6-mile San Francisco Wharf Criterium Sunday.

The 387-mile, 11-stage women’s race begins Aug. 15 at Grand Junction, Colo., with Jeannie Longo of France trying to repeat last year’s victory.

“The Coors is the major bike race in the U.S.” LeMond said. “I think the Coors is becoming a major event even internationally. For me, it’s second only to the Tour de France because it is in America, and it does mean a lot for America to have a major event like that.”