Greg Lemond

Greg LeMond, two-time winner of the Tour de France, will stay out of racing this month to recuperate from a virus, his Z cycling team said Tuesday. The illness caused LeMond to drop out of recent races, cancel the rest of his European spring season and return to the United States. "He won't ride for all of April," team spokesman Michel Laurent said. "He is going to use the rest of the month to rest." LeMond returned to his Wayzata, Minn.

Laurent Fignon, the Frenchman who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and lost to American Greg LeMond in 1989 in the race's closest finish, has died of cancer. He was 50. Fignon died Tuesday, the French cycling federation announced. Fignon said in June 2009 that he had an advanced cancer of the digestive system and was undergoing chemotherapy. He had been a television commentator in France since 2006. He worked through this year's Tour, his voice gravelly from his illness and treatment.

A restaurant owned by champion cyclist Greg LeMond and some relatives opened Tuesday in this Minneapolis suburb. LeMond, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, is a partner in Scott Kee's Tour de France restaurant being run by Kee and his wife, Lisa. LeMond and his wife, Kathy, are partners in the venture along with David and Sacia Morris, the parents of Mrs. LeMond and Mrs. Kee. "Scott has been a chef for about eight years and his dream has always been to have his own restaurant," Mrs.

Greg LeMond's emotional foray into victim's advocacy started with a creepy, threatening phone call. "It was," says the three-time Tour de France champion, "the sickest thing I've ever heard." The anonymous male caller made crude reference to a secret LeMond had shared only with family and a few close friends. He threatened to publicly disclose what LeMond had kept locked away in shame and embarrassment for most of his life: A painful past as a childhood victim of sexual abuse.

American Greg LeMond, bidding to win the Tour de France for the second time, left his competitors behind in an individual time trial Thursday and took the lead in the overall standings. LeMond holds a five-second margin over the 1983 and 1984 winner, Laurent Fignon, who was third in the time trial. "It's quite a surprise for me," LeMond said. "I haven't won yet, but I'm very happy to be where I am." LeMond won the world's most prestigious cycling race in 1986, the only American to do so.

World champion Greg LeMond of the United States, suffering from severe foot pain, dropped out of the Tour of Valencia cycle race today after 52 miles of the fourth stage. LeMond, winner of the Tour de France last year, had been struggling since his custom-made shoes were stolen on Wednesday. Spain's Jose Maria Ahedo dominated most of the fourth stage with a remarkable 104-mile solo breakaway, but failed to stop East German Uwe Raab from winning.

Two-time champion Greg LeMond, with a powerful ride over the mountainous 16th stage, today moved within five seconds of the overall lead in the Tour de France. LeMond finished second in today's stage behind Spain's Miguel Indurain but cut 2 minutes, 19 seconds off Claudio Chiappucci's overall lead. LeMond is now in second place overall with five more stages to be contested. He began the day in third place, 2:24 behind the leader.

American Greg LeMond turned the steep slopes of the much-feared Col d'Izoard to his advantage today to shore up his lead in the Tour de France. He extended his 40-second lead over Laurent Fignon of France by 13 seconds in the 107-mile 16th stage won by Pascal Richard of Switzerland. LeMond's most dangerous rival, Pedro Delgado, severely tested the American on the awesome final ascent to the top of the 7,740-foot-high Izoard pass, kicking away on one of his powerful attacks.

Greg LeMond won the 1989 Tour de France in a little drama so compelling that even American sports fans took notice. After 2,015 miles, 22 days and 20 stages of cycling's greatest spectacle, LeMond trailed Laurent Fignon of France by a virtually insurmountable 50 seconds before starting the final stage that Sunday five years ago. In the 15.

Two giants of American cycling collided in a Malibu courtroom setting Thursday, when former Tour de France champion Greg LeMond testified that reigning champion Floyd Landis implicitly confessed to using illicit testosterone last summer. And in an additional disclosure that appeared to rock the defense team, LeMond accused Landis' business manager of calling him anonymously Wednesday night in an apparent effort to intimidate him so he would not testify.

Floyd Landis' former business manager apologized Friday for making an anonymous phone call to former Tour de France champion Greg LeMond the night before LeMond testified against Landis in a doping appeal hearing. LeMond had claimed that he regarded the call, which alluded to LeMond's having been sexually abused as a child, to be a threat intended to keep him from testifying.

Two giants of American cycling collided in a Malibu courtroom setting Thursday, when former Tour de France champion Greg LeMond testified that reigning champion Floyd Landis implicitly confessed to using illicit testosterone last summer. And in an additional disclosure that appeared to rock the defense team, LeMond accused Landis' business manager of calling him anonymously Wednesday night in an apparent effort to intimidate him so he would not testify.

Ten athletes who had careers interrupted by injuries or illness and returned to achieve at the highest levels of their sports: BEN HOGAN When his car was hit head on by a bus on Feb. 2, 1949, the golfer known as "Bantam Ben" suffered broken ribs and a broken ankle. Yet, only 16 months later, he won the U.S. Open at Merion in Ardmore, Pa. TONY CONIGLIARO An errant fastball thrown by Angel pitcher Jack Hamilton on Aug.

Greg LeMond won the 1989 Tour de France in a little drama so compelling that even American sports fans took notice. After 2,015 miles, 22 days and 20 stages of cycling's greatest spectacle, LeMond trailed Laurent Fignon of France by a virtually insurmountable 50 seconds before starting the final stage that Sunday five years ago. In the 15.

Greg LeMond, who twice won the Tour de France despite a near-fatal accidental shooting during a wild turkey hunt in 1987, retired Saturday because of a rare muscle disorder. LeMond, 33, the only non-European to win cycling's most prestigious event, said he can no longer compete as an elite rider because he is suffering from a disease known as mitochondrial myopathy, a chronic disorder that affects muscle production.

Three days before Thanksgiving last November, Greg LeMond went to Reno, Nev., with a heavy heart and difficult task. He went home to fire his father from what had become the family business. LeMond's 2-year-old bicycle company owed more than $1 million. LeMond's personal losses were much more than he had ever imagined. The three-time winner of the Tour de France had to make quick and irrevocable decisions. Eight months later, the repercussions are still being felt.

Greg LeMond's emotional foray into victim's advocacy started with a creepy, threatening phone call. "It was," says the three-time Tour de France champion, "the sickest thing I've ever heard." The anonymous male caller made crude reference to a secret LeMond had shared only with family and a few close friends. He threatened to publicly disclose what LeMond had kept locked away in shame and embarrassment for most of his life: A painful past as a childhood victim of sexual abuse.

American cyclist Greg LeMond's downward spiral continued Friday when he dropped out of the Tour de France during the sixth stage in the rolling hills of Normandy between Cherbourg and Rennes, France. This latest withdrawal casts serious doubts on LeMond's career. He failed to start last year because of severe allergies, and quit in 1992 during the Alp stages. He finished seventh in 1991 after having won the Tour for the third time in 1990.

He is a three-time winner of the Tour de France, twice the world champion and perhaps America's greatest cyclist. Yet at 32, Greg LeMond cannot predict how his summer will turn out. LeMond is one of 112 cyclists embarking on the 12-day, 1,050-mile Tour DuPont, which will start Wednesday with a prologue at Wilmington, Del. It will end May 15 with a 16.6-mile time trial from Kernersville, N.C., to Winston-Salem, N.C.