International Bike Race : Grewal Still Figure of Controversy

It’s doubtful that anyone ever thought that Alexi Grewal was the best bicycle racer in the world, but the 1984 Olympic road racing champion continues to be the most controversial.

Grewal, who grew up in the mountains at Aspen, where his Sikh Indian father ran a ski/cycle shop, has always had a penchant for individualism. Somehow, that trait has led to controversy.

Who can forget the sight of Alexi, his arms in the air, beating Canada’s Steve Bauer to the finish line for the Olympic gold medal at Mission Viejo?

It was the first time a United States male had won a gold medal in Olympic cycling.

This was the same young man who, two years before, had said he had no interest in the Olympics; the same young man who U. S. Olympic cycling coach Eddie Borysewicz didn’t want on the team; the same young man who had refused to live with his teammates while training for the Games, and the same young man who was dropped from the team for taking an illegal Chinese herb pill during the Coors International race.

Yet, despite it all, Grewal overcame himself, his coach, his teammates, his doping--he was reinstated days before the Olympics--to win.

Three years later, he is riding again in the Coors race--and again the comments and tactics of Grewal are overshadowing those of the winners. And, in his own way, he might have determined the rider who will wear the yellow jersey of victory after Sunday’s final race in Boulder.

The 7-Eleven team has been riding roughshod over competition this year and Grewal doesn’t like it.

For one thing, he rode for 7-Eleven last year before before being fired for, team officials said, presenting a poor corporate image. For another, several members of the team were favored by Borysewicz over Grewal during the ’84 Olympic trials.

“I don’t like the way they gloat over beating the rest of us,” Grewal said. “You’d think they were doing something great, but there’s no one great here except maybe the Italian (Moreno Argentin) and he’s only here to train to defend his world championship.”

The fact that Jeff Pierce, who wears a diamond ring in his ear, was on his way to winning the Coors race nettled Grewal. Although 7-Eleven Coach Jim Ochowicz and the riders said no deal had been prearranged, it was pretty well founded that Pierce, of San Diego, would be the team’s designated winner.

Pierce had earned his reward by winning the final stage of the Tour de France last month that ended beneath the Arc de Triomphe.

Now riding for the Schwinn-Icy Hot team--his fourth in the three years since the Olympics--Grewal has shown flashes of his former brilliance. And, in so doing Thursday in the rugged 75-mile race from Golden to Estes Park, the most taxing of the Coors’ 19 stages, he helped switch the leader’s jersey from Pierce to another 7-Eleven rider, the young Mexican, Raul Alcala.

It was Grewal’s attacking move before the long uphill grind to Estes Park that brought Alcala out of the pack to chase. With Grewal pounding away, Alcala kept close and when the Olympic champion faded, Alcala powered on to a remarkable three-minute win.

More significant, however, is that Alcala not only made up the four minutes he trailed Pierce before the race, but also built up a 3- minute 2-second lead with only two events remaining.

“There’s no way the 7-Eleven team would let me win a stage,” Grewal said. “Even if I’m 3 1/2 hours behind (in the standings), they’ll chase me down.”

For some reason, Pierce did not respond to the Grewal-Alcala breakaway, and refused to discuss it afterward.

“It wasn’t planned that way,” Ochowicz said, however. “It just happened. The plan was to have Andy (Hampsten) attack on the last climb and try to win, and let Jeff (Pierce) keep the overall (lead).”

Grewal’s self-imposed feud with his former 7-Eleven teammates hasn’t been his only controversy.

In the Reno twilight criterium, Grewal took exception to an official’s ruling and made an obscene gesture toward him. That cost him $100.

Not to be intimidated, though, Grewal did it again. The second time it cost him only $25.

For only the second time in 17 stages of the Coors International, the 7-Eleven team was shut out Friday. Volker Diehl of Germany, riding for Schwinn-Icy Hot, broke away four laps from the finish of the 47-lap (40-mile) race to win the downtown Denver Tivoli criterium, run in a light drizzle.

The first 7-Eleven rider to finish was Andy Hampsten, in ninth place. Favorite and defending champion Davis Phinney fell on the last lap.

In the women’s 30-mile race over the same course, Genny Brunet of Canada was the winner. Overall leader Jeannie Longo of France was fourth.

Maria Canins, former Tour de France and Coors winner from Italy, fell in a four-rider crash and broke her collarbone and a rib. Canins was second overall before being forced to quit.