Greg LeMond won the 1989 Tour de France by only 8 seconds. Until the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, it was the smallest winning margin ever recorded at the Tour. LeMond used the power of aerodynamics to gain time on his rival Laurent Fignon. We take a closer look at a special replica of his Bottecchia Kronostrada TT bike and the innovative Scott aero bars that made it possible.
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0:00 The closest TdF ever
1:24 LeMond vs. Fignon
3:58 The bike behind the legend
6:41 The original TT aerobars
8:07 Good drama is all about the characters
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Great video, but the fact that you have Lance’s yellow jerseys on the wall, makes me seriously question your sense of rationality.
6:48 do the aerobars have the famous pepsi can strips under the clamp, like in the TdF winning bike? They were needed as the clamp wasn't the correct diameter for the bars. I'm glad Greg had a great mechanic to fix the issue 🙂
This frame is a noticeably different to the one LeMond rode, in that the flat aero bits are much smaller on his. For example, the section above his bottom bracket doesn't go higher than the chainring. I wonder why the replica was made like that
This video should have been called "How Greg Lemond's TT bike RUINED Road Racing".
Unless the women ride alongside men in the full 21 day Tour, it's beyond absurd to claim Lemond's victory margin as second closest. Did someone from the University of Woke write your script?
That shirt is a bit ironic standing next to a museum bike
Cool bike. And cool video. Note. Boone Lennon and Charlie French didn't design the clip-on. They designed the one piece Scott DH bar. That started being used in triathlon in 1987. The clip-on was a patent Scott USA bought and started manufacturing and marketing in 1988. Profile For Speed then brought out their Aero 2 clip-on in 1989. They had also already released a one-piece bar, the Aero 1, in 1988.
Where are the Coke can shims for the Scott bars???
Thought those Jerseys were banned from the Sport for Doping. Guy wearing them as well!
🎉
I saw Grag in San Francisco at the Tour if California. Phil Liggett hosted an "evening Greg Lemond". The topic was the 89 Tour. It was an unforgettable evening!!! Greg brought the actual 89 TT bike with him and displyed it in the lobby. He said that he baught from the ADR team because he switched teams at the end of 89. He baught it for some ridiculous sum (> $10 k US – I can't remember the exact amount). He had it painted in the Z team colors. He must of used it earlier in the 90 season as he used the carbon TVT TT bike (with Greg Lemond labels) in the 90 Tour. He said the 89 TT bike was a tank at 27 lb. He also said that his Giro helmet was not so aero "it was a parachute". It was OK when he had his head up, but most of the time he had his head facing down. The UCI made him cut the helmet tail – hence Greg called it a parachute when he had his head facing down.
Under UCI rules tri-bars were illegal at that time.
The original Scott clip on bars did not fit the smaller diameter Mavic bars well when they were mounted. Aluminium shims were cut from Coke cans to increase the diameter of the Mavic bars and the clip on bars were able to be fastened snug. If you look closely at the iconic photo of Lemond storming down the Champs-Elysees to the finish, you can see the unmistakable logo of the Coke cans peeking out from under the clip-on bars
Pretty sure some members of the USA 7 Eleven team also used the aero bars during the 89 tour. I would have to dig through some old footage to confirm but I seem to remember that.
How can you compare a 1 week race full of days that are under 100 kilometers with 1 climbing day to a 21 day race like the tour d France of 1989 , utterly ridiculous
Neither a roadie, nor did I ever give it my focus in any way, but I am peripherally interested.
And I've always been familiar with Laurent Fignon and his winning of the TdF and it wasn't until this very video that I now know him as the guy that lost the Tour by 8 seconds 😅
Awesome bike. Visited your store two weeks ago, I'm from New England.
Now I have another life regret, never reading that gift catalog on the plane. 🤣