The demise of Lance Armstrong has seen three-time Tour de France winner Greg Lemond again take his rightful place as the king of American cycling.
The first non-European to win cycling's greatest race is hopeful the sport's darkest days have passed.
Lemond reconnected with the once-controversial aero-bars of his Tour de France-winning bike -- part of a Kiwi-owned collection.
His aero-dynamics may have changed, but Lemond is the same infectious character who won the Tour de France three times before the Lance Armstrong era.
If anything, Lemond -- in Auckland for a Gala Fundraiser -- is saddened by his status.
"I wish Armstrong would have legitimately won; it's good for the sport," he says. "Unfortunately I'm the only one."
The most memorable win was his epic battle with Frenchman Laurent Fignon in 1989.
These days the blond hair has found a new shade, but Lemond has never forgotten what he did to his opponent.
"I know that Fignon -- I've heard from a good friend of his -- he never went back to the Champs Ellysees ever after that," he says.
It remains not just the Tour's closest winning margin, but arguably its greatest victory.
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