--- title: "Greg LeMond: from Tour wins to LeMond Composites" description: Three Tours, a Trek licence that ended in court, then LeMond Composites. What a rider-founder teaches boards about owning the system behind a name. url: https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/greg-lemond/ language: en-GB type: article author: Linus Murphy author_url: https://linusmurphy.com/about/ published: 2022-11-17 modified: 2026-11-06 --- [Peloton to boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/) # Greg LeMond: three Tours, a licensed bike brand, then carbon By [Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/about/) • 11 min read United States · LeMond Bicycles; LeMond Fitness; LeMond Composites · Bicycles and carbon fibre ![Greg LeMond in a tuxedo at a formal event](https://linusmurphy.com/images/peloton/greg-lemond.webp) ## Achievements - [Tour de France general classification, 1986, 1989 and 1990](https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/greg-lemond) - [UCI road world champion, 1983 and 1989](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_LeMond) - [Founded LeMond Racing Cycles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeMond_Racing_Cycles) Greg LeMond won the Tour de France three times, then spent three decades learning that a famous name is not a company. His licence with Trek earned money and ended in court. His carbon fibre venture tried to own the material itself. For a board, the gap between those two is the lesson. ## What did Greg LeMond win, and why does it matter to a board? LeMond won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990 and the world road race title in 1983 and 1989. He was the first rider from outside Europe to win the Tour, which made his name a commercial asset on two continents. [Britannica’s entry](https://web.archive.org/web/20200531181142/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Greg-LeMond) gives the spine of the career. He turned professional with the French team Renault after the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Bernard Hinault rode with him at Renault and later at La Vie Claire, and Britannica credits Hinault with teaching him the strategy and mental toughness needed at the top. Two other details in that entry matter to anyone who runs an organisation. In 1985 LeMond signed what Britannica calls the first million-dollar contract in the sport, which raised the general salary level. And he pioneered technology, including aerodynamic handlebars and helmets. He was a rider who thought about the market and the machine as well as the race. I was racing as a junior in Ireland in 1983, the year he first won the worlds. For riders of my generation he was proof that an outsider could break into a European closed shop. That is a useful frame for what came next, because business turned out to be another closed shop with its own rules. He retired in 1994. Britannica records that he had been diagnosed with a rare cellular disorder, mitochondrial myopathy, which sapped his endurance. The racing career ended on the body’s terms, not on a plan. ## How did LeMond come back after the 1987 shooting? He was shot and nearly killed in a hunting accident in 1987, made an abortive comeback in 1988, and won the 1989 Tour. The comeback took two seasons, not one. [Britannica](https://web.archive.org/web/20200531181142/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Greg-LeMond) is specific about the damage. Surgery removed buckshot from his liver, kidneys and intestines, but two pellets stayed in the lining of his heart and nearly 30 in his back and legs. After the failed 1988 return, he regained top form for 1989. On the last day of that Tour he was 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon, with a 24.5-kilometre time trial into Paris to come. He finished 58 seconds faster and won by eight seconds, which Britannica describes as the smallest winning margin in the event’s history. He defended the title in 1990. What I take from this for senior leaders is the gap year. Executives who come back from a health scare, a failed deal or a public miss often try to perform their old peak in the first quarter. LeMond’s record shows a 1988 that did not work before a 1989 that did. Boards should budget for the 1988. ## What did the 1989 aero bars teach about adopting new methods? They showed that an edge comes from testing a tool your rivals dismiss, then using it where it counts. LeMond raced the 1989 Tour time trials on clip-on aero bars that Fignon did not use. [Cycling Weekly](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/icons-of-cycling-how-greg-lemonds-aero-bars-revolutionised-time-trialling-181429) reported that the bar was designed by Boone Lennon, a former US national ski team coach, and first raced in the 73-kilometre stage five time trial from Dinard to Rennes. LeMond won that stage by 24 seconds and took the yellow jersey. The test came before the race. According to the same report, he tried the bar against a teammate, Jaanus Kuum, who rode a standard time trial bike, and they used heart rate to judge whether there was an advantage. Before the final time trial, Fignon’s directeur sportif, Cyrille Guimard, complained to the referee about the bars, without success. Cycling Weekly’s own question is whether LeMond would have won by eight seconds without them. Nobody can prove it either way. The point for a chief executive is narrower: he did not wait for the peloton to agree the new kit was respectable. He tested it, cleared it with the officials, and raced it. Most organisations do the opposite and call it prudence. ## How did LeMond Bicycles start, and why did it go to Trek? LeMond started his own bike company while still racing, and in 1995, after it struggled, he licensed the brand to Trek. Sources disagree on the founding year, and I would rather say so than pick one. [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/22228977/greg-lemond-ebikes-prolog-specs-price-interview) says he launched his first bike company in 1986 and, citing Bicycling magazine, that the 2021 business was the fourth version of LeMond Bicycles. [Outside](https://www.outsideonline.com/1926036/first-look-lemond-washoe) dates the start to 1990, describing the company as both a test bed for technology he could race and a business selling bikes to the public. Outside also records the turn: “In 1995, after the company initially struggled, the American entered into a licensing agreement with Trek to manufacture and market bicycles under the Lemond Bicycles name.” [MPR News](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2008/04/08/treklemond), carrying an Associated Press report, confirms that Trek began licensing his name in 1995 to make road bikes. A licence is a rational move for a founder whose company is struggling. It brings manufacturing, distribution and dealers that a racer cannot build alone. What it does not bring is control. The partner decides how much to invest, where to sell and how to position the name. The founder keeps the face and the risk. By 2008 the scale was clear. Trek’s president, John Burke, said the LeMond brand had about $15 million in sales a year, and the bikes were mostly produced in Asia, [according to MPR](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2008/04/08/treklemond). Trek as a whole sold 1.5 million bikes a year and did $700 million in sales. LeMond’s name was a line inside someone else’s portfolio. Outside adds that the brand lived on through LeMond’s Revolution trainer after the split, and [Britannica](https://web.archive.org/web/20200531181142/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Greg-LeMond) records a separate venture, LeMond Fitness, founded in 2002 to make indoor exercise bikes. I could not find a reliable revenue figure for either. ## Why did the Trek partnership collapse? Trek sued in April 2008 to end the licence, saying LeMond’s outspokenness about doping had weakened the brand. LeMond had sued Trek a month earlier for breach of contract. The case settled in February 2010. [MPR News](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2008/04/08/treklemond) reported Burke’s position: “Greg’s public comments damaged the LeMond brand, and our reputation with retailers and consumers.” Burke also said Trek had told LeMond the previous autumn that it would not renew the contract when it expired in 2010. LeMond’s side alleged that Trek had failed to promote the brand. The settlement, [reported by Bicycle Retailer](https://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2010/02/01/trek-lemond-settle-case-updated), came after a week with a private mediator and avoided a jury trial set for 1 March 2010. It ended a 15-year partnership and provided $200,000 to 1in6.org, a charity LeMond supports. His attorney, James DiBoise, said: “Clearly we have regained rights to all the LeMond trademarks.” The claims were not small. Bicycle Retailer reported that Trek put the damage to the LeMond and Trek brands at more than $6 million, while LeMond sought $3 million for lost international sales and $1 million for lost domestic sales. LeMond’s own verdict came in an interview published in April 2021 by [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/22228977/greg-lemond-ebikes-prolog-specs-price-interview): “My only regret was not cutting ties much sooner and then instead of defending myself, hoping to repair a relationship, I would have gone on my own.” In the same interview he said: “The hard part for me is I’m not just a person; I’m a business.” That sentence is the whole problem for any founder whose name is on the product. Every public statement is also a brand decision. LeMond’s stance on doping cost him commercially because the licence never said who owned the voice. A useful contrast is [Jonathan Vaughters, who made anti-doping an operating policy of the team he founded](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/jonathan-vaughters/), so the stance and the business pointed the same way. ## What was LeMond Composites trying to build? It was trying to own the input, not the badge. LeMond Composites, co-founded in 2016, licensed a lower-cost carbon fibre process from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and planned to sell the fibre to industries well beyond cycling. A [City of Oak Ridge statement](https://oakridgetoday.com/2016/09/01/oak-ridge-supports-ornl-lemond-composites-carbon-fiber-partnership/) in September 2016 said the company had been founded earlier that year and had secured a licensing agreement with the laboratory. It planned its first production line at a facility it had bought on Palladium Way, with its first commercial product expected in early 2018. At the opening ceremony in October 2016, [Oak Ridge Today reported](https://oakridgetoday.com/2016/10/13/lemond-composites-make-carbon-fiber-composite-bicycles-invest-125-million-create-242-jobs/) that officials expected the company to invest $125 million and create 242 jobs over five years. The chief executive, Connie Jackson, had worked at the laboratory’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility for four years and helped invent the process. The company’s August release claimed it would cut production cost by more than 50 per cent against the cheapest industrial-grade fibre. The governance detail is worth noting. LeMond Composites was co-founded by Jackson, LeMond and the chief operating officer, Nicolas Wegener. LeMond was chairman and co-CEO of the holding company, LeMond Companies, while an engineer who knew the process ran the operating company. That is a different structure from lending a name to a manufacturer. LeMond put it in terms any chair would recognise: “From our experience, I know that having the right team is a distinct business advantage.” Markets named at launch included cars, wind turbines, shipping and infrastructure, not just bikes. What happened next is less clear. In April 2021 [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/22228977/greg-lemond-ebikes-prolog-specs-price-interview) reported that the plan to build his new e-bikes in a 65,000-square-foot Oak Ridge facility appeared to be on hold, and that the first bikes would be made in China. It described a carbon business called LeMond Carbon that shared some employees with the bike company. I could not find a reliable public figure for how much of the $125 million was spent or how many of the 242 jobs exist. ## What does the career-to-business timeline look like? It runs from a world title in 1983 to an e-bike launch in 2021, with the licence years in the middle. Every row below is sourced in the sections above. | Year | Racing | Business | | --- | --- | --- | | 1983 | World road race champion | — | | 1985 | First million-dollar contract in the sport | — | | 1986 | First Tour de France win | First bike company launched, according to The Verge | | 1987 | Shot in a hunting accident | — | | 1989 | Second Tour, by eight seconds, on clip-on aero bars; second world title | — | | 1990 | Third Tour de France | Bike company founded, according to Outside | | 1994 | Retires with mitochondrial myopathy | — | | 1995 | — | Trek licenses the LeMond name for road bikes | | 2002 | — | LeMond Fitness founded | | 2008 | — | Trek sues to end the licence | | 2010 | — | Settlement; trademarks return to LeMond | | 2014 | — | LeMond Bicycles returns with the Washoe steel frame | | 2016 | — | LeMond Composites launched in Oak Ridge | | 2021 | — | Prolog e-bike ships, priced from $4,500 | The Washoe row comes from [Outside](https://www.outsideonline.com/1926036/first-look-lemond-washoe), which reported in September 2014 that the brand would re-enter the market with a single steel road frame made in the United States. The Prolog row comes from [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/22228977/greg-lemond-ebikes-prolog-specs-price-interview), which reported it shipped in late March 2021 at 11.8 kilograms. ## What transfers from LeMond’s career to running an organisation, and what does not? The method transfers: testing kit before the race, building a team around the work, and patience after a setback. The assumption that a strong individual can win against a bigger system on reputation does not. **What transfers.** The 1989 bars are a lesson in disciplined adoption. Try the new thing under controlled conditions, then commit where the margin is decided. The 1988 comeback is a lesson in honest timelines. And the Oak Ridge structure, with an expert chief executive and the famous founder as chair, is the right shape for a rider who wants to build rather than endorse. Compare the path [Eddy Merckx took into running his own bike factory](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/eddy-merckx/). **What does not transfer.** In a race, the strongest rider can override a team’s plan with his legs. In a licence, the partner holds the factory, the dealers and the marketing budget. LeMond’s view that he “would have gone on my own” is hindsight. In 1995, with the company struggling, he did not have that option on equal terms. **The voice question.** If your name is the product, silence is also a product decision. I ask founders to write down, before signing, which subjects they will keep speaking about and what that might cost. LeMond’s anti-doping stance was principled. The contract simply never settled who owned the voice. That is [trust under pressure](https://linusmurphy.com/guide/trust-under-pressure/) with an invoice attached. **The scale question.** $15 million a year inside a $700 million company is not nothing, but it gives the founder little say over priorities. It is worth contrasting with [Chris Boardman, who sold his bike company to a retailer yet stayed on as design director](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-boardman/). The difference is whether the founder keeps a seat where product decisions are made. **The announcement trap.** $125 million and 242 jobs is a launch figure, not a result. I would hold a board to the same rule I hold myself to: judge the venture by what ships. That is the core of [moving from vision to execution](https://linusmurphy.com/guide/vision-to-execution/). For a former athlete now holding a profit and loss account, the test is whether other people can run the system when you are not in the photograph. That is the conversation I have on [the elite sport to boardroom programme](https://linusmurphy.com/services/from-elite-sport-to-the-boardroom/). The other riders in [From the peloton to the boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/) show the same test from different angles. What leaders can take from this - A licence pays you for the name. It does not give you the factory, the channel or the decisions. - Write down, before you sign, what you will still say in public when a partner would prefer quiet. - Adopt the tool your rivals dismiss, but test it first. LeMond's 1989 bars were tried before they were raced. - A second act that changes the material is a company. A second act that reprints the palmarès is merchandise. - Big announcements are not outcomes. Judge a venture by what ships, not by the launch figures. ## Questions I am asked **How many times did Greg LeMond win the Tour de France?** Three times, in 1986, 1989 and 1990. He also won the world road race championship in 1983 and 1989, and Britannica records him as the first non-European rider to win the Tour. **What happened between LeMond and Trek?** Trek began licensing LeMond's name for road bikes in 1995 and sued in April 2008 to end the deal, saying his public comments on doping had damaged the brand. The case settled in February 2010, with $200,000 going to the charity 1in6.org and the LeMond trademarks returning to him. **How big was the LeMond bike brand inside Trek?** Trek's president said in 2008 that the LeMond brand had about $15 million in sales a year. Trek as a whole was then selling 1.5 million bikes a year and doing $700 million in sales, according to the same AP report. **What was LeMond Composites?** A carbon fibre company LeMond co-founded in 2016 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, built on a lower-cost process licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Officials said it would invest $125 million and create 242 jobs over five years. **Did the Oak Ridge factory go ahead as announced?** Not as first described, as far as the public record shows. In April 2021 The Verge reported that the plan to build his e-bikes in a 65,000-square-foot Oak Ridge facility appeared to be on hold, with the first bikes made in China. **What is the main business lesson from LeMond's career?** Own the system, not only the signature. His own verdict on Trek, given to The Verge, was that his only regret was not cutting ties much sooner and building on his own. ## Sources 1. [Greg LeMond: American athlete (archived 31 May 2020)](https://web.archive.org/web/20200531181142/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Greg-LeMond) — Encyclopaedia Britannica, 31 May 2020 2. [How Greg LeMond's aero bars revolutionised time trialling](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/icons-of-cycling-how-greg-lemonds-aero-bars-revolutionised-time-trialling-181429) — Cycling Weekly, 9 July 2015 3. [Trek Bicycles sues to end relationship with Greg LeMond](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2008/04/08/treklemond) — MPR News (Associated Press), 8 April 2008 4. [Trek, LeMond settle case](https://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2010/02/01/trek-lemond-settle-case-updated) — Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, 1 February 2010 5. [First Look: Lemond Washoe](https://www.outsideonline.com/1926036/first-look-lemond-washoe) — Outside, 26 September 2014 6. [Oak Ridge supports ORNL, LeMond Composites carbon fiber partnership](https://oakridgetoday.com/2016/09/01/oak-ridge-supports-ornl-lemond-composites-carbon-fiber-partnership/) — Oak Ridge Today, 1 September 2016 7. [LeMond Composites to make carbon fiber, composite bicycles—invest $125 million, create 242 jobs](https://oakridgetoday.com/2016/10/13/lemond-composites-make-carbon-fiber-composite-bicycles-invest-125-million-create-242-jobs/) — Oak Ridge Today, 13 October 2016 8. [Cycling legend Greg LeMond on his new e-bikes, his failed partnership with Trek, and the future of cycling](https://www.theverge.com/22228977/greg-lemond-ebikes-prolog-specs-price-interview) — The Verge, 8 April 2021 ![Portrait of Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/images/portraits/linus-headshot.jpg) **[Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/about/)** Elite executive coach [Book a 30-minute strategy call](https://calendly.com/linusmurphy-coaching/30min) Other riders: [Eddy Merckx](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/eddy-merckx/); [Sean Kelly](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/sean-kelly/); [Chris Boardman](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-boardman/); [Sir Chris Hoy](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-hoy/); [Alberto Contador](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/alberto-contador/); [Fabian Cancellara](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/fabian-cancellara/); [Tom Boonen](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/tom-boonen/); [Jonathan Vaughters](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/jonathan-vaughters/); [Pat McQuaid](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/pat-mcquaid/). ## The jersey is not the strategy If you raced at a serious level and now hold a chair — or you are about to — I will work the identity and the operating system. 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