1989 Tour de France Final Time Trial

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1989 Tour de France Final Time Trial. Lemond and Fignon battle for yellow jersey.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• 1989
• Tour
• de
• France
• Final
• Time
• Trial
• Greg
• Lemond
• Laurent
• Fignon

[oldtwins]

Where was Lance Armstrong and would he have won?

[socalrider909]

@oldtwins

Lance did not become a pro until 1992 - 1993 was his 1st TDF

[baroh2413]

"The cyclist who doesn't know how to lose cannot become a champion... but to lose like that, on the last day, with such a small gap, and principally because of handlebars that were banned under the rules, no, that was too much for one man,"

[socalrider909]

@baroh2413

The bars were not banned, the officials had a choice to allow or not allow the bars, they chose to let lemond use them.. Laurent even tried a similar bar prior to the final TT and he chose not to use them..

[salomon75]

Shortly after this race, Bicycling Magazine did a story on it, and they determined somehow that if Fignon had cut his ponytail he would have saved 12 seconds and won the Tour. Amazing. This will always be the most iconic showdown in the history of cycling.

[TrackForField]

Forgive me for being ignorant ...but how long in distance is this time trail

[TheCatwoman61]

I think Fignon just wanted to show that he could beat LeMond without the use of the Scott bars or the Giro helmet, it was almost arrogant on Fignon's part...I remember seeing this on tele back in 89, and thinkin "what an arrogant FROG that Fignon was: letting his ponytail wag like a streamer!!" Well, Fignon was still a great rider, can't take that away from him... but being British I supported LeMond, and wasn't particularly fond of the French...so long live Greg LeMond, and RIP Laurent Fignon

[sprintbass]

@socalrider909 well back then they were so new and i can see why fignon would not have wanted to use them so close to the final tt and crash or something happend...when you look at alot of rider set ups in the early days of tt they were all wrong and thier postion on the bike was horrible..it took a few years..flor a long time riders had them facing up ward but eventually by 93 94 they were flat and alot of work had been done to be not only comfy but efficent too..

[TheMarshal1992]

@salomon75 That is complete bullshit, maybe if he had a aero helm and TT bars. There is no way he lost 12 seconds from having a ponytail

[Bobs482]

This sounds like the music from "Commando."

[Thelookoutslookout]

The greatest American cyclist. Ever.

[ausTopGear]

@socalrider909 yeah I have heard this also. Looking at their bikes, it seems like TT bikes are still in their infancy, they hardly look anything like modern day aerodynamic machines.

"Apparently", Le Mond used the aero handlebars not because of the aerodynamic properties but because he felt it gave him better leverage on the pedals, and thus more power and speed. Interesting.

[polnyibak]

Пиздец!

[yesroh]

Don't forget--LeMond's team was so weak, they only got into the Tour because LeMond was a former winner. Fignon gained something like 50+ seconds in the team time trial. He had teammates with him through the whole race. I think Fignon lost one teammate and LeMond lost five. The bars had been used for months before this race. 7-Eleven had been using them. They were legal. To lose because of bad equipment choices is still fair and square.

[yesroh]

Would Lance have won? I don't know...would LeMond have beaten Lance in his from 1999 to 2005 if he'd been racing with a strong team? What's the point in speculating? What if Merckx had been there---he may have beaten both men. Who cares? Would Lance have won anything if he'd had to go to Europe with a foreign team and learn the ropes without an American team around him like LeMond had to do? there's not point in speculating.