The “New York Daily News” that three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond has been subpoenaed to testify and provide materials in the federal investigation into alleged doping practices by and within the pro cycling teams of Lance Armstrong.
According to the paper, “Among the materials the subpoena orders LeMond to produce are any that are related to the four cycling teams Armstrong has led on the Tour de France since his comeback from cancer to victory in 1998: U.S. Postal Service, Discovery Channel, Astana, and Radio Shack. LeMond is also ordered to produce materials related to the Trek Bicycle Corporation, a sponsor of Armstrong's teams that has come under federal scrutiny.”
LeMond and Armstrong have famously been at odds since early in the latter's seven-year Tour domination, when LeMond criticized his fellow American for working with controversial Italian doctor Michele Ferrari. LeMond kept up the harsh talk over the years and was also involved recently in a lawsuit with Trek—which had dropped his bicycle brand—that was settled out of court earlier this year.
So a subpoena was likely only a technicality in this case; Lemond has shown he's willing to talk, whether he's been asked to or not. Still, it's a serious development in an investigation that doesn't look like it will be going away anytime soon.
—John Bradley