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UNTOLD: LEMOND OPENS UP ABOUT RELATIONSHIP WITH LANCE | RDMN CLIPS

with RDMN Clips

11:28·29 August 2023

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Greg LeMond opens up about his fraught relationship with Lance Armstrong, revealing the inside knowledge that made him question Armstrong's 1999 Tour victory and the professional threats he faced for speaking out. He breaks down the physiological impossibilities of Armstrong's performances using VO2 max data and power output metrics, then discusses their contentious meeting years later and why reconciliation remains completely off the table.

Key Takeaways

LeMond was warned at a dinner about Armstrong's doping before the '99 Tour, giving him firsthand knowledge that transformed his skepticism into certainty—this insider information was crucial because rumors and innuendo alone wouldn't have been enough.
Armstrong's publicly claimed 500-watt outputs and 78 VO2 max are physiologically impossible; even elite modern riders don't sustain over 400 watts, and the power-to-weight ratio math doesn't add up for Tour domination at those metrics.
LeMond lost business opportunities and faced commercial pressure from Trek and other sponsors after refusing to stay silent, showing how financial interests prioritized Armstrong's narrative over truth in professional cycling.
When they finally met, Armstrong never genuinely apologized—he claimed to have been 'caught up in the energy' rather than taking real responsibility, and then violated their confidentiality agreement by leaking the meeting to the press.
LeMond gave Armstrong the benefit of the doubt initially post-Festina, hoping clean racing and improved drug controls meant natural talent could flourish—but firsthand knowledge changed everything to black and white clarity.

Expert Quotes

"If you're clean you're the greatest comeback in history. If it isn't, it would be the greatest fraud."

"He admitted that he was a fraud to me when he said 'why did you call me a fraud?' I didn't call him that—I said if you're clean you're the greatest comeback. But he admitted it."

"I would have really profited had I gone along with it greatly, but it was just something that was so black and white."

KEY QUOTES

“Armstrong called me a week later and threatened me. The irony is he said why did you call me a fraud and I said I didn't I said if you're clean you're the greatest comeback in history. He admitted that he was a fraud to me.”
Greg LeMond — Three-time Tour de France winner

“His 5.7 liters of oxygen translated his weight was a 78-79 VO2 max which meant no way in hell could he win the Tour ever. And it was such an average. Remember I'm 68 kilos I take in 6.4 liters of oxygen.”
Greg LeMond — Three-time Tour de France winner

“He never really said I apologize. He said I just got caught up in this big energy this movement. And so he couldn't apologize and he didn't know how to.”
Greg LeMond — Three-time Tour de France winner

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT3 SECTIONS

The Greatest Fraud Quote

Somebody asked what what do you think of his victory I said it's unbelievable so it's believable or you can take it two ways unbel for me it was not believable uh and so that was you know that's where I decided man I can't even watch cycling anymore I I couldn't watch it and uh the following year when he won David Walsh was almost exposed with Ferrari's um uh training with Ferrari he Armstrong heard about it preempted um said he was using Ferrari for training for the hour record but anyways and David had tried to call me and call me I just I said I said you're looking in the right you're looking in the right uh place um anyways and by chance I just without looking at the number I answered the phone it was David Walsh and I said hey David uh he said Greg I want to get a quote I want to talk to you about the victory I said I I don't have anything to say I I don't I said my mom told me if I don't have any good name don't say it at all so I said really it's I don't have any good thing anything good to say so I'd prefer not to talk he said well okay uh would you think that his comeback if he's clean would be the greatest comeback in the history of sport and I said absolutely and then he said well if it isn't what if it wasn't like he says and and I he said said well I I said well it' be the greatest fraud so it became my quote even though the first part was with David and I just answering you know the opposite and uh boy that just man I got called Armstrong called me a week later and threatened me um the irony is he said why did you call me a fraud and I said I didn't I said if you're clean you're the greatest C back in history Force he admitted that he was a fraud to me so um but that became um a really difficult period because I had a thriving bike business track um I was threatened that was going to shut down I thought okay let's I'll just buy my time that's going to end he's going to get caught and um never happened but it became clear that I was the enemy to truck and and um because I wouldn't go along I wouldn't be part of the support group and uh the also highlights at that time how how much cycling took off in a commercial sense because we have you on one side one of the greatest riders in the history of the sport having you know retired with a completely untainted reputation given a quote we have Armstrong who's come true you know he's a post Festina Affair writer with some quite dubious allegations around him but the money and the financial interests have gotten so big in the period between you retiring and this Armstrong period of dominance that it just it's impossible for anyone to nearly break this bubble of Silence without doing massive Financial harm that themselves we've you know Bell Helmets putting pressure on you tri putting pressure on you and it's yeah it's all just self-serving Financial interests yeah you find the world's driven by that though um you know I I would have really profited had have gone along with it um greatly um but it was just something that was so black and white and had I not been told that had I not been told at this dinner that what was happening I wouldn't have I wouldn't have inside proof I wouldn't have anything to really it would have been just inuendo it would have been just kind of um rumors would you not have guessed this considering it's 99 and ftin is 98 and you probably are still quite well connected in the Pro pelaton at that point no I wasn't actually I was not um after I got done with cycling because the E just

Dr. Coyle's Suspicious Slide

Decided I'm not going to follow it I was so happy and then quoted as the best in in Le in 1998 this could be the best thing that happened to cycl Fatina every thought it was going to be the worst but I thought it needed this so I actually gave that benefit to Armstrong because you know in theory if if it's clean everybody if the drugs controls are if you've limited it that you're going to maybe his natural Talent did rise to the top and maybe he wasn't able to do that in the 90s uh in 95 96 because everybody else was an EPO so that was my optimistic view I I do not look at writers and go oh he's cheating I don't I really look at the best of every riter uh but once you get firsthand knowledge it be becomes uh like black and white the the real big deal the real thing that got me in 2001 though I was at a sports conference uh in Austin Texas and uh not Austin Texas um San Antonio uh I was supposed to do the right for the Ros with Armstrong the week before he disinvited me um said he was I was drunk the year before which I wasn't but he he he decided I was the enemy um cuz I had critique Dr perrar a month before uh the event anyways um but I was at the Sports and Medicine conference and Dr Ed Coy who has done testing with him since 1991 91 till he turned Pro his ego whatever it is he was supposed to talk about ergogenic AIDS like drinks and stuff and he pulled up a slide of Armstrong and I remember it like it was yesterday and he showed a graph of his oxygen to take 5.7 lers of oxygen um he showed his weight first 2 three years um which he did lose 3 four kilos between 91 and 95 by the time he but by 199999 1999 it was only a kilo difference not enough to make up that difference and then they had a line from the lower left to the top right was mechanical efficiency and they used Chris carmichel as the expert who knows nothing honestly um made a business out of fraud um anyways he claimed yeah his Improvement was he his mechan mechanical view he he his body somehow one in a trillion somehow defied uh physics and and Physiology uh that he improved 15 to 20% on his mechanical efficient that's why it did what well oh it proved not to be the case but what was shocking is that his 5.7 lers of oxygen translated his weight was a 7879 VO2 max which meant no way in hell could he win the Tour Ever and it's it was such an average so remember I'm 68 kilos I taken 6.4 lers of oxygen he takes because you can deduce you can deduce someone's power to weight ratio based on their oxygen uptake capacity is it oh 100% our power output in drobic is only only is is driven by your oxygen it's it's how much how much how much remember if V2 Max is your is it's critical because a high V2 Max allows you to maximize your aerobic capacity if you're poorly trained you you might not reach that Peak you might the secret is your sustainable output should go as close as you can to your uh to your V2 Max so you're about 90% of your O2 intake uh sustainable so if I have a 92 V2 Max even if I'm not really well trained I should beat riders that are an 85 I look at that my tour to France in 1990 I was had Mono I didn't come in there even close to my good shape and I still want the tour uh that's why I said I I was very blessed but at 5.7 lers of oxygen that's uh basically I'm more than a half a liter um more oxygen at a lower weight so I thought oh my God the watch

The Physics Don't Lie

He they they bragged for I bragged about him doing 475 watts of the C 500 watts of C of m c madone Mone 500 watts at his weight would take over 100 Mill of V2 oxygen V2 Max that means he'd have to sustain in the '90s uh in the '90s for 30 minutes he had a 78 V2 Max impossible and so hom he averaged 475 Watts impossible even today you can see Riders I will guarantee if you looked at their wattage on their computers they're not sustaining more than 400 watts you're seeing 420 watt 440 Watts because somebody's estimating that based on their watts per kilo but their wattage output remember it's your weight to power ratio if I was let's say when I was climbing if you look at the historically most Riders at at at a sustainable up at L was around 400 watts that's over 45 minutes you go shorter than that 15 minutes you can do 430 450 Watts so and I even argue with David Walsh I mean you talk about all these um stories but it's physics it's like physiology there there's certain things you can't the sports been so competitive for so long and there's been data produced there is no Miracle there is there's no secret training there's no secret diet it it it when I race it at the time the diet was probably more balanced in in the 80s would still eat the same as today except you would be I would be forced to starve myself and and lose muscle mass a lot has come out on the wash you know in the last decade with you know Armstrong holding his hand up and you know apologizing to a bunch of different actors were in it did you ever get an apology he wanted to so I arranged a meeting in San Francisco um I forced him to sign a confidentiality um agreement so yeah we met with his attorney and and my attorney and we signed confidentiality agreements I knew that would drive him crazy because he wanted to say it publicly but um but I did want to see if he was going to be honest with me because I had information from a lawsuit with Tre that I knew that he was with with Tre working to basically shut down my fitness company and and other businesses and I saw files on it um accidentally and I asked him you know were you ever working with John on John Burke on this and he lied to me he said no I said well I know you're not being truthful because I saw the documents uh I saw messages between you and John perke and uh so I knew he was not being honest and he never really said I apologize he he he said I he he said you know he'd never apologize he said I just got caught up in this big energy this movement um and so um he couldn't apologize and he didn't know how to do you think that relationship is dead in the water or is it anything you would ever consider never never fixing never never oh my God no you he's not one to ever have a friendship with absolutely not zero chance he uh But the irony is about two months later he he finally revealed that we had a he tried to make it like we had he apologized to me uh even though we had a confidential agreement I knew he couldn't handle that he he had to leak it so no I would never consider a a any cordial relationship with him this was an extract from my podcast with Mr Greg leemon if you want to check out the full conversation you can click here and also don't forget to subscribe to the channel

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

why did greg lemond fall out with lance armstrong+

LeMond publicly questioned Armstrong's 1999 comeback on physiological grounds, arguing the power outputs Armstrong claimed were impossible for a rider with his measured VO2 max. Armstrong and his sponsors, including Trek and Bell, responded by pressuring retailers and nearly destroying LeMond's bike business as a result.

what did greg lemond say about lance armstrong's vo2 max+

At a 2001 sports medicine conference, Dr. Ed Coyle presented data showing Armstrong's VO2 max was approximately 78-79. LeMond argues that figure makes sustaining the 475-500 watt outputs Armstrong claimed during his Tour victories physiologically impossible without the assistance of doping.

did trek really drop greg lemond because of lance armstrong+

Trek did not immediately drop LeMond, but applied severe commercial pressure after he spoke out against Armstrong. In this interview LeMond details how sponsor relationships tied to Armstrong were used to threaten his brand, which came close to collapsing the LeMond Bicycles business entirely.

has greg lemond ever reconciled with lance armstrong+

No. LeMond makes clear in this interview that reconciliation is not on the table. He views the physiological evidence against Armstrong as conclusive and believes Armstrong's team orchestrated a deliberate campaign to silence and financially ruin him for speaking out.

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Key Takeaways

LeMond was warned at a dinner about Armstrong's doping before the '99 Tour, giving him firsthand knowledge that transformed his skepticism into certainty—this insider information was crucial because rumors and innuendo alone wouldn't have been enough.

Armstrong's publicly claimed 500-watt outputs and 78 VO2 max are physiologically impossible; even elite modern riders don't sustain over 400 watts, and the power-to-weight ratio math doesn't add up for Tour domination at those metrics.

LeMond lost business opportunities and faced commercial pressure from Trek and other sponsors after refusing to stay silent, showing how financial interests prioritized Armstrong's narrative over truth in professional cycling.

When they finally met, Armstrong never genuinely apologized—he claimed to have been 'caught up in the energy' rather than taking real responsibility, and then violated their confidentiality agreement by leaking the meeting to the press.

LeMond gave Armstrong the benefit of the doubt initially post-Festina, hoping clean racing and improved drug controls meant natural talent could flourish—but firsthand knowledge changed everything to black and white clarity.

Expert Quotes

"If you're clean you're the greatest comeback in history. If it isn't, it would be the greatest fraud."

"He admitted that he was a fraud to me when he said 'why did you call me a fraud?' I didn't call him that—I said if you're clean you're the greatest comeback. But he admitted it."

"I would have really profited had I gone along with it greatly, but it was just something that was so black and white."

KEY QUOTES

“Armstrong called me a week later and threatened me. The irony is he said why did you call me a fraud and I said I didn't I said if you're clean you're the greatest comeback in history. He admitted that he was a fraud to me.”
Greg LeMond — Three-time Tour de France winner

“His 5.7 liters of oxygen translated his weight was a 78-79 VO2 max which meant no way in hell could he win the Tour ever. And it was such an average. Remember I'm 68 kilos I take in 6.4 liters of oxygen.”
Greg LeMond — Three-time Tour de France winner

“He never really said I apologize. He said I just got caught up in this big energy this movement. And so he couldn't apologize and he didn't know how to.”
Greg LeMond — Three-time Tour de France winner

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

why did greg lemond fall out with lance armstrong+

what did greg lemond say about lance armstrong's vo2 max+

did trek really drop greg lemond because of lance armstrong+

has greg lemond ever reconciled with lance armstrong+

UNTOLD: LEMOND OPENS UP ABOUT RELATIONSHIP WITH LANCE | RDMN CLIPS

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

KEY QUOTES

The Greatest Fraud Quote

Dr. Coyle's Suspicious Slide

The Physics Don't Lie

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

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The Physics Don't Lie

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The Greatest Fraud Quote

Dr. Coyle's Suspicious Slide

The Physics Don't Lie

The Greatest Fraud Quote

Dr. Coyle's Suspicious Slide

The Physics Don't Lie