LeMond wins $3.46 million in lawsuit

By Tim Maloney, European Editor

On Friday, February 4, a jury in a St. Paul, Minnesota (USA) federal court ruled in favour of three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond in his breech of contract suit against PTI Holdings Inc. of New York. 43 year-old LeMond of Medina, was awarded $3.46 million dollars. According to LeMond's attorney Bill Pentelovitch, the award was based on an estimate of royalties LeMond would have received if the contract had been honoured by PTI.

In 2002, PTI dropped LeMond before his 10 year contract expired, and LeMond subsequently filed suit in 2003 for breach of contract. In court proceedings, LeMond introduced evidence of an e-mail from PTI, sent in March 2003 saying PTI wanted to end LeMond's contract with a $1.1 million buyout because of Lance Armstrong's "emergence as the dominant American cyclist."

At press time, there was no word whether PTI Holdings would appeal the award.