As the peloton rolled out of Luxembourg on the first of twenty-one gruelling stages of the 1989 Tour de France, little could the race directors have known that their somewhat controversial decision of a final stage individual time trial would result in one of the most thrilling finales in the history of the race, cycling and sport in general.
But in a race that always offers unique drama, the scene was set at the opening prologue by Pedro Delgado. The reigning champion and strong favourite arrived two minutes and forty seconds late at the start of the 7.8km time trial and after dropping a further 14 seconds on the course, the Spaniard found himself in last place and out of contention for the maillot jaune. This timekeeping faux pas would open the door for a battle supreme between American Greg LeMond and Frenchman Laurent Fignon, both former Tour winners but for different reasons both struggling to hit their peak form.
LeMond's struggles were rooted in tragedy rather than form. In April 1987, the reigning champion had been accidentally shot by his brother-in-law on a turkey hunting trip near his California home, taking more than 30 lead pellets to his back and side, two of which lodged in the lining of his heart. He came close to bleeding to death before reaching hospital, and spent the best part of two seasons rebuilding a body and a career that most had written off. For 1989, only the modest Belgian outfit ADR was willing to take a chance on him, and it was in their flouro yellow and blue ADR Agrigel jersey that he lined up in Luxembourg as a rank outsider.
Fignon's road back had been just as hard fought. Two operations on his Achilles tendon between 1985 and 1987 had wiped out almost two full seasons, and the twice Tour winner arrived in 1989 with plenty of doubters. Riding for Cyrille Guimard's Super U-Raleigh-Fiat team in the Super U jersey, this was supposed to be his redemption, and for most of the race it looked exactly like that.
The maillot jaune changed shoulders five times before the final weekend. LeMond took it with a sprint finish on Stage 5, only for Fignon to snatch it back on the Pyrenean summit of Superbagnères on Stage 10. LeMond hit back in the Stage 15 time trial to Orcières-Merlette, before Fignon reclaimed it, for good as everyone assumed, on Alpe d'Huez two days later. By the time the race reached Versailles for the 21st and final stage, a 24.5km individual time trial into Paris, Fignon led LeMond by 50 seconds, a margin that looked unassailable over such a short distance.
Two things conspired against him. The first was technological: LeMond had discovered that no UCI rule prohibited the tri-bars more commonly seen in triathlon, and rolled out of Versailles tucked low over an aerodynamic setup while Fignon rode upright in the traditional position, bare headed, his blond ponytail trailing behind him. The second was physical: Fignon had developed painful saddle sores during Stage 19 and had barely slept the night before the time trial.
LeMond produced the ride of his life, averaging 54.545 km/h to record the fastest individual time trial in Tour history. Fignon, struggling and clearly in pain, lost 58 seconds to the American by the finish on the Champs-Élysées. When the clocks stopped, Greg LeMond had won the 1989 Tour de France by just eight seconds, the smallest winning margin in the race's history. More than three and a half decades on, it remains the record.
It was the perfect ending to one of sport's great comeback stories. Two years after a hunting accident very nearly killed him, LeMond stood on the Champs-Élysées in yellow, and the following year he returned to defend his title in the colours of Team Z, a jersey now every bit as iconic as the one Fignon so narrowly lost.
Relive the closest finish in Tour de France history: shop the ADR Agrigel jersey worn by Greg LeMond, the 1989 yellow jersey Laurent Fignon wore for nine days that July, or LeMond's 1990 Team Z yellow jersey from the title defence that followed.