How it unfolded
In 1985, Greg LeMond had helped team leader Bernard Hinault win his fifth Tour, and Hinault publicly promised to repay the favour the following year. In 1986, though, Hinault attacked repeatedly throughout the race, unsettling his own teammate instead. The two men rode for La Vie Claire, a team funded by French businessman Bernard Tapie, and the psychological battle over the yellow jersey within the team became the race's central story. On stage 18, the two rode away together over the Galibier and Croix de Fer, then climbed all 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez side by side, crossing the finish line hand in hand. The stage win went to Hinault, the yellow jersey to LeMond. LeMond won the overall title in Paris by 3 minutes 10 seconds, becoming the first Tour champion from outside Europe.
Why it still matters
This single image turned the Tour from a European regional event into a global sport. LeMond's win opened the floodgates for riders from North America, Australia and later Colombia, and brought in American television coverage and sponsorship money. At the same time, whether that hand-in-hand photo was reconciliation or one last piece of psychological warfare has been argued for 40 years.