page_title: Greg LeMond
section_title: LeMond Cycles
hierarchical_section_title: Greg LeMond / Business interests / LeMond Cycles
caption_attribution_description: Cycling legend Greg LeMond being interviewed by David Bernstein for Interbike TV.
context_page_description: Gregory James "Greg" LeMond is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship and a three-time winner of the Tour de France, LeMond is considered by many to be the greatest American cyclist of all time.
  LeMond began his professional cycling career in 1981. In 1983, he became the first American male cyclist to win the Road World Championship. LeMond won the Tour de France in 1986; he is the first non-European professional cyclist to win the Tour. He was accidentally shot with pellets and seriously injured while hunting in 1987. Following the shooting, he underwent two surgeries and missed the next two Tours. At the 1989 Tour, he completed an improbable comeback to win in dramatic fashion on the race's final stage. He successfully defended his Tour title the following year, becoming one of only seven riders to win three or more Tours. LeMond retired from competition in December 1994 and was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1996.
context_section_description: In 1990, LeMond founded LeMond Bicycles to develop machines for himself that would also be marketed and sold to the public. The following year, searching for an equipment edge for Team Z at the 1991 Tour de France, LeMond concluded an exclusive licensing agreement between his company and Carbonframes, Inc., to access the latter's advanced composites technology. Whilst using the bikes for the 1991 Tour, he would maintain his carbon bike in his hotel room, leading his mechanics to fear it had been stolen.  While LeMond briefly led the 1991 Tour overall, riding his Carbonframes-produced "Greg LeMond" bicycle, the company eventually faltered, something LeMond blamed on "under-capitalization" and poor management by his father. Carbonframes and LeMond Cycles "parted amiably two years later." In 1995, with his company allegedly nearly bankrupt, LeMond reached a licensing-agreement with Trek Bicycle Corporation, according to which the Wisconsin-based company would manufacture and distribute bicycles designed with LeMond that would be sold under the "LeMond Bicycles" brand. LeMond would later claim that going into business with Trek "destroyed" his relationship with his father. The lucrative partnership, which generated revenue for Trek in excess of US$100,000,000, would be renewed several times over the course of 13 years, but it ultimately ended in acrimony after LeMond's relationship with Trek deteriorated over his staunch anti-doping advocacy.
  LeMond found himself at odds with Trek in July 2001 after he expressed public concern over the relationship between Italian doping doctor Michele Ferrari and Trek's star athlete, Lance Armstrong. Trek president John Burke pressured LeMond to apologize, claiming, "Greg's public comments hurt the LeMond brand and the Trek brand." Burke allegedly justified his demand for an apology by advising that, "As a contractual partner, he [LeMond] could criticize doping only generally – not point his finger at specific athletes, particularly one that happens to be the company's main cash cow." Armstrong reportedly said privately he could "shut him up" by contacting Trek, as documented in affidavits by Frankie and Betsy Andreu released in the 2012 USADA doping report. LeMond issued an apology for his comment.
  In a 2007 interview, LeMond accused Armstrong of trying to sabotage his relationship with Trek bicycles. In March 2008, LeMond Cycling Inc sued Trek for failing to properly promote and distribute the LeMond brand, and for attempting to "silence" LeMond's public comments about doping, attributing this to the influence of Armstrong on Trek.  His complaint included statistics detailing slow sales in some markets, including the fact that between September 2001 and June 2007, Trek only sold $10,393 worth of LeMond bikes in France, a country in which LeMond was both famous and popular. Trek responded in April 2008, announcing that it was dropping LeMond Bicycles from its product line and that it would sue to sever the licensing agreement.
  As promised, Trek counter-sued and stopped producing bicycles under the LeMond brand. After nearly two years of litigation, LeMond reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with Trek in February 2010. The settlement permitted the case to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning, "neither side can produce the same claims against one another in a future lawsuit." Although settlement terms were not disclosed, LeMond reportedly obtained full control over the LeMond Bicycles name, while Trek made a donation of US$200,000 to the charity 1in6, of which LeMond was a founding member of the board of directors.
caption: LeMond (left) at the 2010 Interbike trade show
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