You don’t want to see the green Irish national jersey of Sean Kelly in your rear view mirror when you are sprinting for the line in the World Championships. Greg Lemond led out this sprint extremely early as he was afraid if Kelly took off he would never catch him. Lemond barely gets an arm up in victory salute it’s so hard and fast. It’s a long, long power sprint from the front and he only knew he had earned his second rainbow jersey when he crossed the line.
Greg Lemond truly earned what must have been his greatest one day victory. His first World Championship title was monumental, it sent a shock wave reverberating around the world, and was the opening salvo for American cyclists racing and actually beating the best. And this victory was after he had been shot with a shotgun! He had to chase down Laurent Fignon, face the tactical disadvantage of Fignon having Claveyrolat as a teammate in the final and having to beat Sean Kelly in a sprint! It is testament to Lemond being a complete cyclist; the brains, the power and the heart.
Back when it took place only weeks after the Tour de France, the World Championship road race was the most prestigious one-day race of the year. It sat squarely in the middle of the racing season. There was no hiding from it. Everyone who raced in the Tour was praying their form who hold, or if they rode badly in the Tour they could claim to be peaking in a few weeks (instead of two months). If riders were not selected for the Tour they would kill themselves to do well enough in other June and July races to be selected for the Worlds.
The 1989 Worlds road race course was too many laps of an exhausting circuit in Chambery, France. Lemond had won the Tour de France weeks before, overcoming the insurmountable lead of Laurent Fignon on the dramatic final TT stage in Paris. Greg was not feeling fit and had to be talked into riding at Chambery. Each lap he wanted to pull off at the pit area and end the suffering, but he didn’t. Only a true professional would say he started to feel better (or “unblocked”, as Lemond put it) in the last third of a race this gruelling. With each hilly lap raced Greg was feeling better, and despite the rain and the climbs, he kept finding a reason not to abandon. This is the fact that stays with me; Greg was ready to drop out of the race as he felt weak (why race if you couldn’t win?) yet he stayed at it, one lap at a time and to his surprise he started to feel better. Better? Amazing to think that struggling to stay in the elite main field, on an extremely hilly circuit course like Chambery, that an athlete would start to feel stronger 200 km into it.
By the bell lap the small break (Steven Rooks: NDL, Dmtri Konyshev: USSR and Thierry Claveyrolat: FRA) was staying away and the decimated field was not going to catch them. The French team captain Fignon ripped off the front of the field, quickly bridging up towards a countryman in the break. He must have taken note of Lemond suffering throughout the day. This was Fignon’s revenge.
As Fignon was closing in on the break he turned and to his horror saw the once-struggling Lemond next to him. If Laurent had dared to even dream of a victory that day, a victory that would help to redeem his crushing loss in the Tour, this was the last man he wanted to see bridge up and join him in the break. But once they joined the break Laurent had a teammate and the tactical advantage went his way. The video tells the rest of the story.
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I hate that YouTube is blocked at my work.
1989 was the year as far as I'm concerned.
I was lucky enough to spend the summer that year in France, and whilst not in Paris, I will never forget watching the final TT live on tele. I'd returned home by the WC's and couldn't wait to get the Comic that week for the results and the write up. I have no idea how long I spent looking at the pictures in there of the race, and later Winning when that came out (Winning, I still maintain, was the ultimate in bike porn...).
The same YouTube clip was the first time I'd seen actual footage of the race, nearly 20 years after. I've got it stored and every now and again let it transport me back to my golden era cycling.
I really wish the Worlds would get moved back to it's proper place in the calendar, but that's another thing all together.
@Cyclops
What kind of cruel dungeon do you labor in?? That is unheard of and inhuman. Sure people don't waste as much time when it's blocked but damn it, I didn't include a you tube video in this post for simple amusement, I did it be informative.
@Unica
I was so sure Fignon was going to win the TdF in '89 I didn't even bother to watch the final TT, even Lemond wasn't going to make up that. Luckily I went to a friends house and he did have it on so I did get to see it all play out. Whew.
Can you imagine watching the Worlds in person? That would be worth a long drive to have seen all those racers in their national kits, especially if it ended like that '89 race.
Winning Magazine, I'd nearly forgotten about that rag. I must have subscribed as I am a helpless bike porn addict myself. But I can't remember...the addicts brain, riddled with holes like a drilled out chainring.
There are about a thousand cool things about that video. Poor Steve Bauer...man, that guy could not get his luck together in the Worlds, could he?
For my money, I loved that they wore their trade team bibs with the National jerseys...and back then, the US team jersey was a classy looking bit.
Konyshev was another of my all-time favorites.
And Kelly...the man was the last rider to switch from toe-clips, and then SWITCHED BACK. What a stud. Of course, I think he might have switched from toe-clips to the Shimano SPD, which was the worst-ever clipless pedal, so you can't blame him for that one...
This is one of the best World Championships of all time. Lemond really had it here. I remember racing against him when he entered Pro/1 races as junior and I was Cat 1. The only one to beat him was John Howard.
@frank
I think Robert Millar was using toe-clips after Kelly. But check out Lemond's shoes. Some sort of bastardised Time Equipes, with a toe-strap between the two velcro straps. I have a theory they were prototype Brancale shoes (like wot he wore in the '90 tour) that basically ripped-off the Time platform. The theory is probably as watertight as the one about Kelly selling this race by braking so he didn't outsprint Lemond.
Konyshev, the only pro who couldn't be bothered to shave his legs or wash his bike, or train for that matter.
This was probably the best Worlds. Now here's a thought. Was '89 the best year for professional cycling ever? If so, then Lemond sits central to that theory
This was a masterful piece of riding by Lemond. The youtube video starts with Fignon on attack. I remember when Fignon made his move on this final climb, before the start of the video. When he jumped and past Lemond, Lemond did not flinch. Lemond waited to make his move at the perfect time to chase down Fignon and the leaders, before the top of the climb. He was amazing that day. I believe this was the only time he beat Kelly in a sprint. This was his third World Championship.
@Jarvis
I was trying to figure out Lemond's shoe-pedal combo. That toe strap does confuse me. Is he using clipless pedals with a toe strap somehow?
@john
I love how Kelly spontaneously materializes at the back of the lead group. You can almost sense the "Oh fuck!" from the other riders. Thinking back, he seemed to do that a lot: just magically show up with the leaders at the right time. Milan-San Remo 1992 comes to mind. A big "Oh fuck" moment for Argentin.