Greg LeMond chasing Laurent Fignon in Tour de France 1989. Photo / Supplied
Greg LeMond chasing Laurent Fignon in Tour de France 1989. Photo / Supplied
From a sports history point of view, this stirring, conventional documentary about Greg LeMond, the three-time Tour de France champion, has a slight problem in that it gets to the finish line a little early. LeMond was the first and – after Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis were stripped oftheir titles – only American man and first non-European to win the race.
The Last Rider finishes with his second win in 1989.
It was, as footage and interviews with LeMond and others all remind us, quite a victory. Behind by nearly a minute with a final mad dash 24km time trial on the streets of Paris, LeMond won by eight seconds, the narrowest margin in the race’s history.
He was to snatch a third Tour victory in another late-stage time trial the following year. That last triumph isn’t covered here. And, other than as a footnote remark from LeMond’s one-time coach Cyrille Guimard, nor is the reason for the title. LeMond was the last rider before the doping era essentially forced him into retirement as curiously faster riders left him behind. Subsequently, he became a staunch anti-doping advocate, and there’s possibly a whole other doco in the legal battles his outspokenness caused with Armstrong and bike sponsor Trek, which also manufactured a LeMond-branded line.
Director Alex Holmes delivered a BBC doco on Armstrong in the wake of his 2013 confession. Here, he might be shining a bright, belated spotlight on a true champ, but it’s also a psychological study of a man who overcame much. He was sexually abused as a kid, and that second tour win in 1989 came after LeMond was almost killed in a 1987 hunting accident. He rode the race with 35 shotgun pellets still in his body.
The Last Rider is not the whole LeMond story. But for Tour fans and those unenthused by the great race alike, it’s a compelling one.
Rating: ★★★½
The Last Rider directed by Alex Holmes, in cinemas now.
