Eric Heiden is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Heiden was the most successful athlete at those Olympic Games, single-handedly winning more gold medals than all nations except…
I will start this story out with a quote from ESPN First Take Host Stephen A. Smith….when he and Skip Bayless were debating the issue of whether 7-time Tour de France” champion cyclist Lance Armstrong was using PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) or not…..as Stephen A said, “You know what you know …..and you don’t know what…
Alex Stieda is a former professional road bicycle racer from Canada…..who led five classifications of the Tour de France on the second day of the 1986 Tour de France…..including the general classification, the mountains classification, the combination classification, the intermediate sprints classification and the young rider classification….thus becoming the first North American to lead the Tour de France. Stieda finished in 120th place in his only Tour de France….while riding on the…
On July 6, 1986, something happened at the Tour de France on the 214 km / 133 mile course from Levallois-Perret to Lievin…..when a member of the 1st American cycling team to ever compete in a Tour de France….when name Team 7-Eleven’s Davis Phinney won Stage 3 of the 1986 Tour…..as no American had ever graced the…
As the 1985 Tour de France was drawing to a close…..USA Greg Lemond had a very real chance of winning the Tour…..while riding for Team La Vie Claire….whose leader was four time Tour winner FRA Benard Hinault….when in 1984 Hinault had finished second to Laurent Fignon…..and was threatened by LeMond…..who ended up in third position on the final…
In the 1983 Tour de France…..FRA Laurent Fignon was a part of the team that helped Bernard Hinault to win the 1983 Vuelta a España….when his coach Guimard did not want to send Fignon to the Tour de France….as his coach felt that two grand tours could be too much for a 22-year-old rider….but when Hinault, winner of four of…
This video has CBS John Tesh narrating coverage of the 1986 Tour de France from the 2nd floor window of a 19th Century French farmhouse…..as the peleton passes in the forefront of the camera’s view…..as he covers the race throughout the 1st five days of the race…..which includes the Prologue won by FRA Thierry Marie on…
Stage 5 of the 1986 Tour de France took place on July 8th….which covered the 124.5 km / 77.4 mile course from Evreux to Villers-sur-Mer, France…..and was a “plain stage” won by NED Johan van der Velde….who is a former Dutch cyclist…..when in the 1980 Tour de France, he won the young rider classification….while also placing 12th in the general classification that year….after he…
Sportscaster Dale Hansen served as host of NBC’s Year in Sports 1986 special program that provided highlights of all major sporting events during the year…..which included this piece on the 1986 Tour de France…..which was won for the first time by an American, Greg Lemond…..who went on to win two more Tours in his career…..and still…