In Europe, bicycle racing is bigger than the Super Bowl1 is in the U.S. Bigger even than the World Series2. And for three weeks each summer the race swings through France like a traveling circus and rock concert rolled into one. When the Tour ends in Paris, the winner is the world’s number one cyclist.

　　In 1986, for the first time ever, an American won the Tour. He was a 24-year-old from Utah named Greg LeMond. Overnight Greg became internationally famous. And his future as a top racer seemed guaranteed.

　　The next winter Greg went to California to visit his family. On April 20, Greg went wild-turkey hunting with his uncle and his brother-in-law. The three men separated and moved through a field of berry bushes. Greg lost sight of the others. He stopped and then began to move again. Suddenly he was hit in the back with a full blast of buckshot. His brother-in-law had accidentally shot him.

　　Greg’s uncle ran home and called 911. Then Greg had a stroke of luck. A rescue helicopter was flying nearby. It heard the police radio calls and flew Greg to a hospital with a center for gunshot wounds.

　　This quick trip probably saved Greg’s life. He had 60 holes in his back from the one blast of buckshot and was bleeding from every one of them. If the trip had been any longer, he would have bled to death.

　　Greg spent the next six days in the hospital in terrible pain. Doctors removed most of the pellets. But two were in the lining of his heart. The doctors had to leave them there. Greg didn’t know if he would ever race again.

　　“For three or four weeks,” Greg recalled, “I’d sit at home in a chair, shaking with pain. I’d just cry and cry.”

　　But little by little, Greg forced himself to take short walks. It was two weeks before he could go two blocks without tiring. Finally one day he climbed on his wife’s bike and pedaled up and down the driveway. It wasn’t the Tour de France — but Greg was riding again.

　　Soon Greg tried to bike a couple of miles each day. Then he took longer rides in the hills. But just as he was getting back to normal, Greg had more bad luck. He was rushed to the hospital with appendicitis. The doctors operated on him again.

　　That wiped out the 1987 season for Greg. He was sure he could come to top form in 1988. But for the first time, Greg’s willpower was not enough. By the ’89 season, his ranking had dropped from #2 to #345!

　　People were saying that Greg LeMond was washed up. But he decided to race in the ’89 Tour de France just the same.

　　In 1989, the Tour would be harder than ever. It would cover 2,025 miles in 22 days of racing. An extra day of mountain racing had been added, and there were three time trials — when the riders raced against the clock and not one another.

　　Laurent Fignon was a favorite. No one was betting on Greg —— even he didn’t expect much. His personal goal was to finish in the top 20.

　　He surprised himself by winning the first trial. He began to think he had a chance after all. But Fignon kept pulling ahead. By the final day, he had built up a 50-second lead.

　　The Tour finished with a time trial ending in Paris. Greg had only 15 miles in which to wipe out Fignon’s lead. It would take a tremendous effort to win.

　　Greg decided to try a new kind of handlebars for this last leg. They extended out in front of his regular handlebars so that he could ride in a stretched-out, flat position that helped him go faster.

　　It worked! When Greg crossed the finish line he had shut out Fignon.

　　Greg won his second Tour de France by the slimmest margin in Tour history — only eight seconds! But he had won. After two years of pain and defeat he had come back to his place as the world’s top racer. And in 1990, he won the Tour again!

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