Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France champion, celebrated the announcement of LeMond Composites, a new company he co-founded, during a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 12, 2016, at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. The company is expected to make composite bicycles and carbon fiber, and invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Greg LeMond, the only American to win the Tour de France, will speak about “The Adventure of My Life—from the Tour de France to Carbon Fiber†on Tuesday in a fundraiser for Oak Ridge Playhouse and 1in6.org, a press release said.
The talk is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 12, at Oak Ridge Playhouse in historic Jackson Square in Oak Ridge. It’s presented by UT-Battelle.
Event tickets (and pre-event reception tickets) are available at www.orplayhouse.com. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be used to support both Oak Ridge Playhouse and 1in6.org, the press release said.
LeMond won the Junior American Road Race in 1977, made the Olympic team in 1980 (but America boycotted), and continued to rise in the ranks of international cyclers, ultimately winning the Tour de France three times, the press release said. His first win in 1986 was followed by a near-fatal hunting accident, requiring months of recuperation. This comeback climaxed when LeMond won his second Tour de France in 1989 by a mere eight seconds, the press release said. After being invited to the White House by Ronald Reagan and named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year in 1989, LeMond won his third Tour de France in 1990. LeMond retired from professional racing in 1994; two years after his retirement, he was inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.
LeMond has always been an anti-doping advocate, and in 2001, when concerns arose that Lance Armstrong might be doping, LeMond at first said nothing, the press release said. However, as the concern grew, when asked again, LeMond said, “If Lance is clean, it is the greatest comeback in the history of sports. If he isn’t, it would be the greatest fraud.†This seemingly mild confrontation rose to a mammoth legal battle that was eventually settled, but it had a huge impact on LeMond’s business interests, the press release said.
Unknown to practically anyone until LeMond discussed it with Paul Kimmage of The Sunday Times in 2007, LeMond was personally impacted as a young teenager by sexual abuse by a family friend. Because of this experience and LeMond’s desire to help other men impacted by sexual abuse, LeMond and his wife Kathy helped found the nonprofit organization 1in6.org in 2007.
Today, LeMond is leading another adventure, having founded LeMond Composites, headquartered in Oak Ridge. LeMond holds a license to a patent-pending carbon fiber manufacturing process, licensed to the company by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is operated by UT-Battelle LLC. In addition, LeMond has finalized a licensing agreement with Deakin University’s Carbon Nexus research lab in Australia. This adventure is most fitting, as LeMond was the first racer to ride a carbon fiber frame bike to victory at the Tour de France, the press release said.
“Come hear this amazing story first-hand from Greg LeMond while supporting the Playhouse and 1in6.org!” the release said. Event tickets are $25. For an additional $50 contribution, guests can meet LeMond at a pre-event reception at Pinnacle Bank in historic Jackson Square.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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