ESPN 30 For 30 Slaying the Badger: Greg Lemond vs. Bernard Hinault

If the whole professional cycling drug culture epitomized by Lance Armstrong and his competitors has lessened your interest in the Tour de France and other professional races, then you might want to reflect on a "simpler" time in bike racing when Greg Lemond was attempting to be the first American to win the the Tour. For those of us who were following professional cycling at the time through the Tour de France televised recaps and the magazine "Winning Bicycle Racing Illustrated" it was an exciting time and not at all as simple as it first appeared. I was in the midst of being a Ironman distance triathlete between the years 1983-1987 and cycling was a foreign sport that was barely reported on in the USA and so it seemed just as new as the sport of triathlon. Cycling emerged onto the radar (along with triathlons) in the psyche of runners exiting the running boom or expanding into new sports. "Cross-training" was a new word and a new idea for athletes at the time. Greg Lemond was the man in those days and the excitement of an American taking over a European sport was creating a fresh interest in the sport and peleton The awareness was probably also propelled by the 1979 movie Breaking Away and American cyclists like Jonathan "Jacques" Boyer  and John Howard who won the 1981 Hawaii Ironman.



Slaying the Badger details in particular the year 1986 when five time Tour de France champion, Bernard Himault- the Badger, went against his promise to support Greg Lemond and instead attempted to steal a second tour victory from his young American teammate. The dramatics behind the scenes and throughout the Tour are compellingly portrayed through interviews with the key players and video from the race.

Greg Lemond with my son Andy in 1999.

Watching the film reminded me of my fascination with learning about professional bike racing in those years. Yes, I had a "La Vie Claire" cycling jersey, a pair of the first clip-on Look pedals, and  pair of Oakley Pilot sunglasses. just as shown in this documentary. I also recall getting more and more people interested in cycling and the Tour so that by 1989 when Greg Lemond had his showdown with Laurent Fignon in the final time trial of that years Tour, I had convinced plenty of non-cycling friends to watch along with me on television. I was also thrilled to see Greg using "triathlon" bars in that stunning race.

"Slaying the Badger" is a great film to watch if you don't know the history. Greg's story got lost during the Lance Armstrong years, but his triumph over the Badger and later returning to win the Tour after being shot by a hunting rifle is just as inspiring as Lance's victory over cancer. This video is mostly about 1986, but it does touch briefly on what happened in 1985's Tour as well as the hunting accident and 1989. It also shows what happened to Greg and other cyclists like Andy Hampsten once EPO hit the peleton.

The video is based on the book Slaying the Badger: Greg LeMond, Bernard Hinault, and the Greatest Tour de France by Richard Moore. If you missed the ESPN episode shown in July, you can watch the video from Amazon: Slaying the Badger.

   

A couple of other interesting cycling movies I have watched in the past month are Rising from Ashesabout starting a professional cycling team in Rwanda. Jonathan Boyer, mentioned above, plays a part in the movie as the disgraced cyclist/coach who moves to Africa to help out with the athletes on the cycling team.  It is currently playing on Netflix. On one of the flights to Kenya last month, I also caught the movie Pantani: The Accidental Death Of A Cyclist about 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani. They were all good movies, but "Slaying the Badger" is the best of the bunch.

The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton

 I have been staying away from discussions of Lance Armstrong these days. Like talking abut politics, "Lance talk" is very polarizing. He's either a massive cheater and liar or the subject of an overblown witch hunt and has never failed a test...people take sides. I have my own views that have been formed over many years of following professional cycling, from the days before Greg Lemonds victories in the Tour de France when us fans got our news about international races from a slick and beautifully photographed magazine called Winning Cycling Illustrated.

My son Andrew with Greg Lemond in 1999
Goodales  in Nashua.

I followed Greg Lemond as well as a teenaged triathlete named Lance Armstrong. There was nothing more thrilling then getting my friends and family all excited to watch Greg Lemond pull the upset over Laurent Fignon and win the final time trial and comeback victory in the 1989 Tour de France. I followed as Lance made a remarkable recovery from cancer and won his first Tour and many more, and was one of the first people to get a Livestrong bracelet. I watched his Tour victories with all the excitement and enthusiasm one could muster, but I also started hearing "more" about the "real" Lance and while he was a good cyclist, he seemed to not be a very nice person. As I learned more about the incredible rides of the professional cyclists, I also sadly realized that most of them were using illegal drugs to aid their performances.

It was gut wrenching when Floyd Landis lost his Tour victory after being caught using a testosterone patch, and then Tyler Hamilton was caught (and it wasn't due to his unborn twin), as well as many other popular European riders. It seemed like they all were tainted, well, all but Lance. I stopped watching the Tour and cycling events two years ago, just like I stopped watching the Red Sox. I want to watch a clean  sport without overpaid and overly worshiped players like the Sox or to watch a sport that was in disarray like cycling.

The Science of Sport blog has an excellent post on the many sides of the Lance Armstrong controversy. By not fighting the charges against him, I am in the camp that Lance figures this is the easiest and most pain free route to continue his denials without letting the public hear the charges and admissions of his Postal teammates.

Today I read an interesting article in Outside magazine by Mike Anderson, a close confident of Lance Armstrong for two years, before Lance went "Postal" on him and like others who crossed paths with Lance, he got a full vengeful and vindictive payback from Armstrong. This is more evidence of Lance's bullying type of behavior (or could it just be a disgruntled former employee?).

The article also mentions a book by Tyler Hamilton called The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs that will come out in a few days. I look forward to reading this one. Here is a Cycling New review and a Sports Illustrated article on the book.

"Lance worked the system ... Lance was the system," according to Tyler Hamilton.

 News of Lance will continue to polarize people, but the news keeps getting worse for Mr. Armstrong. My opinion is that Lance needs to come clean. I also don't think you can really take the victories away. There is no one to give them to: however, there should be a pretty big asterisk next to them. I just hope I don't find out one day that all the great running stars of today are just as juiced.

Update: I finished reading the book and it was a good read. There is no denying that Tyler is coming clean with the extensive details and admissions. As he repeatedly says, "The truth shall make you free." Doping sounds like a system wide epidemic in the professional (and hints of it even in the amateur circles) cycling peleton. Lance is tied down to his lies and has exerted a lot of control over the whole issue within the cycling ranks. Unfortunately due to the fact that is is not a very nice guy, it seems as though his grip is slowly being eroded and eliminated, as fellow teammates and cyclists start coming clean. It is troubling to read how easy it was for cyclists to dope. It was easy for them, because if they didn't they would have no career and it was easy enough for them to find, use, and discover the newest ways to cheat the system in order to keep up.