LeMond Packs Up Tour de France : But French Hearts Still Belong to the Runner-up, Hinault

PARIS —  With the Arc de Triomphe at his back and the end of the rainbow ahead of him, Greg LeMond coasted across the finish line Sunday, more relieved than elated to have become the first American to win the 83-year-old Tour de France.

His victory was all but assured before the 23rd and final day of the 2,543-mile bicycle race began. LeMond, who is from Reno, Nev., was 44th in a pack of 132 survivors to ride under the yellow-and-white “Arrivee” sign at the end of one of the world’s most famous boulevards, the Champs Elysees.

But with his 3-minute, 10-second lead in the overall standings over runner-up Bernard Hinault intact, LeMond, 25, was immediately mobbed by photographers and tour officials, one of whom had the responsibility of handing the winner a Coca-Cola.

Oh, to be an American in Paris.

An estimated crowd of 200,000 were lined 10-deep along the Champs Elysees, many of whom arrived early Sunday morning even though the cyclists were not due to arrive until 4:30 p.m. The crowd was reserved in the reception for LeMond.

That was not so much because he is an American but because he conquered the French hero, Hinault, a five-time winner of the Tour de France. His finish, in contrast to LeMond’s, was greeted with a tremendous ovation and gushing banners, one which read: “Bernard, France still belongs to you.”

But not the Tour de France. Hinault, who will be 32 in November, has announced he will retire at the end of the year, although virtually no one believes him. But in what he proclaimed would be his last Tour de France, his French fans wanted him to become the first six-time winner. Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx also won five before they retired.

It was not to be, but no one will ever convince LeMond that Hinault did not attempt to deliver. He contended until Friday and finished a close second, well-ahead of third-place Urs Zimmermann of Switzerland and fourth-place Andrew Hampsten, another American who, like LeMond and Hinault, rides for the La Vie Claire team. Hampsten is from North Dakota.

Longtime observers said this was one of the most dramatic of the 73 races, which have been run annually since 1903 except for years when interrupted by world wars.

It certainly was one of the most treacherous. Of the 210 cyclists who started on July 4, 78 were swept up by the broom truck, which each day collected riders who could not continue.

One of them was France’s two-time champion, Laurent Fignon, who limped down the Champs Elysees Sunday as the crowd cheered and blew him kisses.

Even in defeat, the temperamental Hinault was the focus of the world’s most prestigious bicycle race.

His pursuit was the source of tension between him and LeMond, who sacrificed his chance for victory in 1985 so that the Frenchman could win and expected the favor returned this year. On the victory stand last year, Hinault promised no less.

On this victory stand Sunday, there was no such camaraderie.

Hinault, the first cyclist on the podium, ignored LeMond when he joined him. It was not until LeMond leaned over and kissed Hinault on the cheek that he shook the American’s hand.

Later, when Zimmermann joined them, he raised LeMond’s left hand and tried to coax Hinault into taking his teammate’s other hand. Instead, the Frenchman sat down, apparently bored with the ceremony.

Fron the victory stand, LeMond said: “Wonderful, it feels just wonderful. I was nervous, but everything went perfectly today. To win, you’ve got to be one of the great champions.”

Afterward, LeMond was rushed to City Hall, where he was toasted by Jacques Chirac, the mayor of Paris and the prime minister of France, but the American told family and friends that he was in no mood to celebrate.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Ron Stanko, LeMond’s Philadelphia attorney. “He said he felt like a load had been lifted from his shoulders. There was a lot of pressure, so much to overcome.”

Stanko said that even though LeMond is in the second year of a four-year contract with La Vie Claire, he probably will exercise his option to resign from the team at the end of 1986 and wants to form his own team, ideally with a U.S. sponsor. The United States had its first entry this year, the 7-Eleven team, but it finished far behind the leaders.

With the 10-man La Vie Claire team divided into Hinault and LeMond supporters, with the team’s manager publicly pronouncing his preference for Hinault, and with Hinault fans taunting LeMond on the road to Paris, the American worried until the final three days of the race that the victory would be stolen from him.

“I’m very paranoid, I tell you,” he told CBS last Thursday. “I’ve had some sleepless nights. I’m afraid someone will push me off my bike. I’m afraid someone will poison my food. I just hope everything goes all right Sunday.”

The final leg began 158 miles from Paris in Cosne Cours Loire, a farming village that was the vacation home of King Louis XIV’s mistress.

LeMond’s mother said last week that La Vie Claire might give him a rotten bicycle. It was intended as a joke, but LeMond had to wonder when his brakes locked early Sunday.

After a momentary delay, LeMond received a replacement and proceeded without further difficulty, riding conservatively to avoid a disabling accident, the only occurrence that could have prevented his victory.

That was not LeMond’s first difficulty with his bicycles. Huffy, the Dayton, Ohio, company that supplies him, sent him four new bicycles two months ago, but they never arrived. LeMond used his only Huffy for the first three weeks of the tour but had to discard it last week and began using a French brand that was unfamiliar to him.

When a reporter jokingly suggested that LeMond’s missing bicycles might be victims of sabotage, a Huffy spokesman said: “Don’t laugh. We’ve been checking that out.”

Italy’s Guido Bontempi finished first Sunday in 6 hours 51 minutes 55 seconds. The other finishers crossed the line in a pack and, as customary on the final day, were given the same time as the leader. LeMond’s composite time was 110 hours, 35 minutes and 19 seconds.

“Greg told me when he was 16 that he wanted to win the Olympics, the World Championships and the Tour de France,” said LeMond’s father, Bob, a Reno businessman. “He’s been living with this dream for a long time.”

LeMond’s father was overwhelmed by his son’s achievement.

“With Greg being the first English-speaking winner, I think the sport’s going to explode in the United States,” he said. “I think it’s going to become bigger than running.”

LeMond was unable to compete in the 1980 Olympics because of the boycott but won the World Championships in 1983. He was third in his first Tour de France two years ago and finished second last year before winning Sunday, a remarkable progression for someone who was not raised on the sport.

LeMond’s ambition initially was to become an acrobatic skier. Even though his father was an amateur cyclist and still rides in senior events, LeMond did not become interested in the sport until a ski instructor told him it would help him build up his muscles for the slopes. LeMond was 14.

Two years later, disillusioned with skiing because of a drought that left Reno with no snow in the winter and inspired by the cycling movie “Breaking Away,” LeMond began racing competitively.

He was a natural, becoming, at 19, the youngest captain of a U.S. cycling team for the 1980 Olympics. But when the United States boycotted, LeMond turned professional and moved to Europe. He now lives for eight months of the year in Kortrijk, Belgium, and spends the other four months in Sacramento.

After LeMond’s third-place finish in the 1984 Tour de France while riding for the Renault team, Hinault encouraged La Vie Claire’s financial backer, Bernard Tapie, to buy out LeMond’s contract.

Whether he now regrets his support for LeMond, only Hinault knows. As precocious a newcomer as the sport has ever seen, LeMond would have won the Tour de France last year if La Vie Claire’s team manager, Maurice Le Guilloux, had not insisted that the American, who was in the lead through half the race, allow Hinault to catch him. Hinault was the victim of an earlier accident, which had left him shaken and bloodied.

While LeMond tried to grin and bear it, Hinault expressed his gratitude, pledging that he would ensure that 1986 was LeMond’s year.

It is a matter of interpretation whether Hinault kept his promise.

There is no question that after LeMond earned the yellow jersey, traditionally worn by the overall leader, last Sunday, Hinault spared his teammate a certain amount of strain the next day by leading him through the Alps. The leader takes the brunt of the wind, creating a drag effect for the man behind him.

But the truce lasted only 24 hours, after which Hinault said LeMond was on his own.

“He made promises to me he never intended to keep,” LeMond told the International Herald Tribune. “He made them just to relieve the pressure on himself. I’m positive, 100% sure of it. I have kind of bitter feelings about him.”

Hinault told reporters he wanted to keep LeMond off balance in order to make the American a better competitor. LeMond has been accused by other cyclists of lacking a champion’s heart.

“I’ve pushed him as hard as I can and spared him nothing, not words, not action,” Hinault said.

“If he didn’t buckle, that means he is a champion and deserves to win the race. Next year, maybe he’ll have to fight off another opponent who will make life miserable for him. He’ll know how to fight back now.”

Hinault’s gesture in the Alps, however, was all the French press needed to declare their favorite son the true champion.

“Everyone knows Hinault is the moral winner despite Greg LeMond wearing the yellow jersey,” the Paris newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche , told its readers Sunday.

But it was LeMond who rode away with $25,000, the deed to a resort apartment worth $17,270, a porcelain vase, a diamond-studded trophy valued at $46,153, and his place secure in cycling history.