Director: ALEX HOLMES
96 mins, UK, 2022, Digital
The extraordinary life of cyclist Greg LeMond, who, in 1986, became the first American to win the Tour De France, is recounted in this inspirational documentary from director Alex Holmes (Maiden, 2018). The year following his win, LeMond was shot in the chest in a freak accident, but despite his life-threatening injuries, the tenacious cyclist fought his way back to the saddle to compete in the 1989 race, one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. The race is the stuff of legend, and will come down to the final stage’s time trial. Holmes’s poignant film gives ample space for LeMond to tell his story, whose boy-next-door affability veils a history of childhood abuse and repressed trauma, and features memorable contributions from his wife Kathy, and Laurent Fignon, his main rival for the yellow jersey on the epic 1989 Tour.
Notes by David O’Mahony.