LeMond says he wants to clean up cycling, but some question his motivation

MALIBU, Calif. - As a teenage cyclist, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond took command in races, pedaled without a sense of limitation and never shied from a challenge.

Though long retired from cycling, LeMond’s approach to ending the rampant doping in the sport is much the same, something that doesn’t surprise those who know him well.

Called by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to testify Thursday in cyclist Floyd Landis’ arbitration hearing, LeMond matter-of-factly told the three-person panel about a conversation he had with Landis in August 2006, after Landis was accused of using synthetic testosterone.

LeMond said he told Landis to confess if he had doped and said that Landis responded, “‘What good would it do?’”

On the stand Saturday, Landis said LeMond mischaracterized the phone conversation and repeatedly denied using banned substances.

Cycling is struggling to combat doping. This month, top cyclists Tyler Hamilton, a Boulder resident, and Ivan Basso, an Italian, have been linked to Operation Puerto, a Spanish doping investigation. Hamilton already has served one two-year ban for blood doping.

Outside the courtroom after testifying, LeMond didn’t shy from sharing his position.

“Thank God there’s (the World Anti-Doping Agency) and USADA,” LeMond said. “Because we all know what’s happening to the sport of cycling. I love cycling. I care passionately about cycling. The sport is paying the price for the dishonesty and lies. The lies are starting to tumble. The house of cards is cracking and it’s coming down.”

As much as LeMond has backed the anti-doping authorities, Landis has openly criticized them.

Ron Kiefel, a Wheat Ridge resident who rode with Le-Mond on the 1978 Junior World Cycling Championship team, sees commonalities in Landis and LeMond.

“Floyd and Greg are fighting for the same thing,” Kiefel said. “They’re fighting for the truth and athlete’s rights. But it’s sad to see.”

LeMond has accused Lance Armstrong and Landis of using performance-enhancing drugs. Now the only three U.S. cyclists to conquer the 2,000-mile stage race are fractured by the charges of doping.

To some, such as Joe Papp, the former midlevel professional cyclist who testified Friday about his own testosterone use, LeMond is a hero.

“He has been maligned in the media and hasn’t been able to speak freely,” Papp said. “Cycling is a culture of silence and repression.”

But LeMond’s outspoken criticism of Armstrong’s ability to win the Tour seven times after undergoing chemotherapy for testicular cancer has led many in the cycling community to wonder if LeMond is acting out of spite. Armstrong never has tested positive.

It seems like (LeMond is) making accusations based on hunches,” said Scott Moninger, a professional cyclist who lives in Boulder and rode with Landis on the Mercury cycling team.

Boulder resident Michael Aisner, who ran the Coors International Bicycle Classic, a stage race held in Colorado in the 1980s, has known LeMond since he was 16 and is a member of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame. Aisner can see why the naturally gifted, hard-working racer has decided to speak up, although he admits he too is troubled by LeMond’s tact in regards to Armstrong.

Right now he’s watching (cycling) deteriorate in front of his eyes,” Aisner said. “I can only imagine he feels utterly compelled to better the situation and I trust that. I trust that that is his motivation. I can’t imagine that he had some personal vendetta against Floyd.”

According to LeMond, truth is all that motivates him.

“Nobody owns me,” he said. “Nobody in the world of cycling ... there’s been a lot of people who do not want to look at the truth of what’s going on in cycling. I’m not someone who can be bought off, silenced. I’m doing what’s right, and what I felt was right was coming here and telling the truth.”