Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond received the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, becoming the first cyclist and one of only about a dozen individual athletes to earn Congress’s highest civilian honor. House Speaker Mike Johnson presented the award, citing LeMond’s path-breaking victories and his role in raising the profile of American cycling. Lawmakers approved the Greg LeMond Congressional Gold Medal Act in 2020, but the public presentation was postponed by the pandemic. The bipartisan measure was introduced by Representative Mike Thompson of California and cleared both chambers with the two-thirds support required for the distinction before being signed into law in December 2020. LeMond, 64, won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990 and remains the only American officially recognised as a champion after the titles of Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis were stripped for doping violations. His eight-second triumph over Laurent Fignon in 1989 is still the closest finish in the race’s history, achieved two years after LeMond survived a near-fatal hunting accident. Past athletic recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King and Joe Louis.