Greg LeMond: he's a legendary figure in the annals of professional bicycle racing. The first rider from the U.S. to become a major contender in the "big leagues" of European racing, LeMond was one of the brightest stars of the 1980s. LeMond earned a place in history in the 1986 Tour de France by being the first U.S. rider ever to win that race, but he didn't stop there: he went on to win two more Tours, two World Champion titles, and a host of other races, despite a near-fatal accident midway through his career that made his comeback all the more impressive. The four-disc set Greg LeMond: America's First showcases his greatest achievements: his three Tour wins and one World Championship title. The three Tours are also available separately; the World Championship DVD is exclusive to this set.

Each race is fully self-contained, but the best way to watch the four races here is in chronological order, which requires a slight rearranging of the order of the DVDs in the set. This allows for a fuller appreciation of the rivalries among the different contenders for the Tour, as well as showing the development of riders who are stars on the ascent.

The 1986 Tour de France: LeMond & Hinault Challenge

1986 was LeMond's first Tour de France win, and it was a tough struggle most of all against his own teammate, Bernard Hinault, a five-time Tour winner seeking a record-breaking sixth win. The 1986 Tour is an aggressive, exciting race, with the leadership always in question: will it be veteran Hinault, challenger LeMond, two-time Tour winner Laurent Fignon, or perhaps Stephen Roche, who will go on to win in 1987? The 55-minute coverage of the race means that we don't get to see a lot of detail about the individual stages, but in the first place, it's great just to see this historic race on DVD at all, and we do get a good sense of the action in the key stages of the race.

The 1989 Tour de France: Incredible Comeback

To say that this Tour de France is "the best ever" is the plain truth, and no exaggeration. Not only does it feature Greg LeMond in an amazing comeback after a hunting accident almost ended his life as well as his pro career, it marks the slimmest margin of victory in any Tour de France: a mere eight seconds, earned on the final stage of the race.

What's more, the race is incredibly hotly contested from the very beginning, all the way to those historic eight seconds in Paris. The French favorite, two-time winner Laurent Fignon, has his sights on the yellow jersey, as does the Spanish climbing specialist Pedro Delgado. Every time it seems like one of the favorites has a dominant position, another rider will stretch himself to the limit to steal away the yellow leader's jersey. The Tour route in 1989 was particularly challenging, and the battle for the overall lead, as well as for the individual stages, is intense from early in the three-week Tour all the way through the mountains and the time trials, to finish up explosively with the final time trial in Paris. This is a race that still has the power to captivate even when you've seen it many times and know exactly how events play out: it's bicycle racing at its finest.

The coverage here, about an hour and 40 minutes, is excellent, considering its length (of course I'd have liked to have seen more!), with the major moves covered very well, so that the drama of this intense race is captured for viewers to enjoy time and time again.

The 1989 World Championship

This 50-minute program is more accurately described as a documentary on Greg LeMond centering around the World Championship road race, rather than a program about the race itself.

The first twenty minutes or so of the program gives an overview of Greg LeMond's racing career up to 1989 and his hopes for the world title. Any fan of LeMond will find this section quite interesting, as it gives a sense of where LeMond was coming from and what his experience was like as the first real U.S. champion on the European racing scene. Interspersed with this material is an introduction to the major contenders for the World Championship, and the remaining 30 minutes covers the race itself.

The format of the 1989 World Championships program is a bit different from other WCP productions, as it's based on ESPN footage, and has the narration mostly handled by a U.S. narrator, with Phil Liggett supplying portions of the commentary. Let me tell you, by the time you're done watching this program, you'll appreciate Liggett's excellent commentary like never before, because the U.S. commentator is flat-out awful. From awkward, over-dramatic delivery, to remarks that show substantial cluelessness about the world of pro cycling, he's painful to listen to.

The race coverage is reasonable, though hampered by the surprisingly small number of motorcycle cameramen actually on the course; we get quite a bit of the race from overhead shots. We do get to see how a breakaway forms near the end of the 21-lap race, and how the major contenders for the title (LeMond, Laurent Fignon, Steven Rooks, Sean Kelly, and others) take up the chase. The finale is quite exciting, showcasing Fignon's aggressive style and LeMond's response to it. Keep an eye on the French riders to see the critical impact of team cooperation (or lack thereof).

The 1990 Tour de France: Greg LeMond – The Best Yet

As he took on the challenge of defending his victory in the 1989 Tour, Greg LeMond was in perhaps the strongest position of any of his Tour wins. With a solid team backing him, LeMond had more support from his teammates than he'd had in earlier Tours, but even so, the eventual winner would be determined by individual willpower, strength, and a keen eye for tactics. It's an aggressive race, with the 1988 winner Pedro Delgado eager to win for the second time, and the new rising star of Claudio Chiappucchi throwing down the gauntlet as well.

The 90-minute coverage of the 1990 Tour isn't quite as smoothly done as what we get for the 1989 Tour, but it's still very good. We get to see all the major moves throughout the race, such as the climbs of l'Alpe d'Huez and Tourmalet, and of course Chiappucci's daring mountain challenge and LeMond's response. Several post-stage interviews with LeMond are also shown.

The DVD

The four races are packaged in a single large keepcase, with each race having its own disc. The 1986, 1989, and 1990 Tours are also available separately; apart from having different cover art for each DVD case, the individual releases are identical to what's included in the America's First set. The 1989 World Championship DVD is only available in this set, however.

Video

All four programs have been remastered for their DVD release, and it shows; the image quality is excellent, considering that we're looking at live broadcast television footage from the 1980s. In all cases, the DVD transfers are a huge step up from the earlier VHS releases, and it's definitely worth upgrading if you own these races on videotape.

The prints are sparklingly clean, with no noise and no print flaws whatsoever. Colors look good overall, with the team jerseys appearing bright and vibrant, and skin tones and landscapes looking natural. Occasionally we do see some fluctuation in color due to one of the cameras not providing as good an image, but this is a minor detail. Edge enhancement is almost entirely absent, and the image, though soft, looks reasonably detailed.

The programs are all presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratios.

Audio

A Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is supplied for all four programs. The 1989 and 1990 Tours sound the best, with Phil Liggett's narration always clear, clean, and easy to understand, and a touch of race ambiance appearing in the background. Some background music is used but it's not overdone, and the post-race interviews are also clear-sounding.

The 1986 Tour does suffer from lackluster audio quality; the commentary from Liggett and Paul Sherwen is often muted and tinny-sounding, and some truly awful pop music is spliced in at times. The 1989 World Championship coverage has satisfactory sound quality for its overall narration, though the interviews with LeMond are a bit muffled-sounding.

All in all, the sound is satisfactory, if not perfect.

Extras

There are no special features included in this set. The Tour DVDs have menu screens that allow viewers to either play the race from the beginning or jump to specific stages. The World Championships DVD, unfortunately, has no chapter stops: it's just all one big chapter.

Final thoughts

Greg LeMond: America's First is a great collection of races from the career of the United States' first champion bicycle racer. All the races here are ones that cycling fans will want to own, and since the World Championships is exclusive to the America's First set, it's a must-have for LeMond fans. This set is also very accessible for viewers who are new to professional bicycle racing and want to try it out. The 1989 Tour de France is of course the highlight of the set, but viewers will also thrill to the excitement of the 1986 and 1990 Tours, and the World Championship DVD is interesting as well, with its background on LeMond and its coverage of the road race itself.

The 1980s and early 1990s were great days for the Tour, with champions like Laurent Fignon, Stephen Roche, Pedro Delgado, Bernard Hinault, and Greg LeMond making each year's edition of the Tour a classic one. Now, if only we could get to see the "missing" Tours like Delgado's 1988 win, Irishman Stephen Roche's 1987 win, and five-time winner Bernard Hinault's Tours in 1983 and earlier! In the meantime, it's fantastic to get Greg LeMond's Tours and one of his World Championships on DVD. Especially since World Cycling Productions has done a super job of remastering these races for DVD, this is a great set to buy. Highly recommended.