h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, a cyclist!

Only because he has thrust cycling into the consciousness of people here in the USA through his dominance of the sport for so long...

not just because of that, but also because of his amazing comeback after recovering from testicular cancer.

Great, but not he has achived the same as Greg Lemond. I'm thinking of doing an entry about him v soon, so I'll keep it brief.

Lemond revolutionished the sport of cycling, bringing in big wages and many techincal inovations.

He won his first tour battling against 1 of the all time greats, Hinault, in his own back yard.

He was accidently shot by his brother in law while hunting, had a lung collase and had two years out recovering

He came back, without a decent team and wo the next tour and the world Championship, beofre winning again the following year. He surcame to blood disorders caused by the amount of lead shot still in his body, and retired after two more years.

Lemond was up against Hinault, Laurent Finion, Pedro Delgado when he won his tours, stiffer challenge that Armstrong has faced.

Merck, Indurain, Hinualt all should be also mentioned in the annals of great cyclists for their achivements.

and am i right in remembering that lemond had the smallest ever overall lead on the tdef? i think he was something like 7 seconds ahead of fignon, whatever year that was.

1989, his comeback year.

No major team would risk him, so he had a team ,ADR, that to be honest were not top class. The Tour De France relys on teams, the top riders need team mates to help collect water, swap bikes in the event of a punchure, to chase down breaks and to protect and pace him on the mountains. Lemond lost most of his team, and was not as good a climber as Delgardo (pre race favorite and 1988 winner) or Fignon. Fignon had a better team and however much the French press hated him, he was a French Rider in the French tour, so had much more help.

It was the first (?) and last time that they had an individual time trial against the clock on the last day, people had said it would be a boring finish, however Fignon started the day 45 seconds ahead of Lemond in the race. The riders each start 2 minutes apart, so Fignon had to arrive no later than 165 seconds after Lemond has arrived. In his hayday Fignon was one of the best time trailist in the world, however he refused to use the modern more aerodynamic bike, handlebars and headgear that Lemond used. In the end Fignon was just a few seconds short and Lemond became one of the least expected winners of the tour.

true, but what about eddie merckx, eh?? or the 'big mig' miguel indurain...? i think lamond is everything lance armstrong is (though if he dominates again as much as he has the last four years, we will all have to acknowledge him as the greatest - and time is really a deciding factor in this whole debate... i mean, what of tiger woods yet? can we be sure??) but 'big mig' and merckx are supreme for mine.

Lance is exceptional. Mercx won everything going, and was a legend in the cycling world, but Lance's fame has transcended the narrow orbit of cycling fans because of his having been given (IIRC) only six months to live - his chemotherapy was apparently so severe it was causing skin burns from the inside. To come back from that to top-level competitive sport is astounding, and to come back to four consecutive Tour de France wins[1] is little short of miraculous. He may well not be the greatest cyclist of all time but he is unquestionably one of the greatest sportsmen most of us will ever see. If you look in the OED for the definition of "focus" it really ought to say "see: Lance Armstrong."

[1] The TdF has been assessed as the energy equivalent of running a marathon every day for three weeks. Think about the months of preparation most marathon runners undergo for a single race.

Mercx and Hinualt were before my time as a fan so I have no real knowledge of watching them race. Remember that Mercx and Hinualt didn't just concentrate on the Tour de France, both have won the other two major tours (Italy and Spain) on numberous occations,l as well as classics.

Indurain has a story of remarkable comback in his past as well. As far as I know, when he was young there was a problem with his heart and it was not certain if he would live. The specialist ask him that if one day he won a yellow jersey in the Tour de France, if he could have it;. The specialist died before Indurian could give him the jersy, after winning his tour, he laid the jersy on the doctors grave. Indurain was also the last of the multiple TDF winners to compete succesfully in either of the other big Tours.

The recovery that Armstrong made from cancer was remarkable, and undoubably made him a better, leaner rider. However the shotgun accident that Lemond suffered made it so that he could only race for a couple of months, his body circumming to lead posioning from the inside. He was not the rider he was before the accident and it was hi ability to not give up that lead him to win again.