For Jeff Pierce, USA Cycling's new director of elite athletics, the final day of the Tour de France is more than just another bike race. Pierce took the biggest result of his career on the Champs-Élysées during the final stage of the 1987 Tour, winning the “sprinters' stage” with an audacious solo move to become only the third American to win a Tour stage and the first to do so in Paris.
It was an iconic moment for US cycling that pushed American racing further into the European consciousness – and in particular the fortunes of the 7-Eleven team – and it defined Pierce's cycling career until he retired after the 1996 season. Since Pierce's solo win, only Eddy Seigneur (Gan) has won a final road stage alone on the Champs-Élysées, beating Frankie Andreu (Motorola) in 1994 by three seconds from a small breakaway.
Ironically, some of Pierce's fondest memories from that day come via stories he was told rather than things he witnessed personally. He recalls hearing about how the Italian sponsor riding in the team car that day nearly tore the interior apart expressing his angst as race radio called out Pierce's exploits. In the days before the internet – and thanks to the American television network's tape-delayed coverage in the States – Pierce was also able to phone his parents after the stage and coyly suggest they make a point of tuning in. He checked back later to hear the stories about his family's over-the-top reaction.
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Pierce raced three more seasons for 7-Eleven, finishing second overall at the Coors Classic in 1987, winning two stages at the ground-breaking Colorado race in 1988 and then taking a stage win at Pais Vasco in 1989. He returned to the States with the Chevrolet-LA Sheriff team through 1996, then retired and went to work with USA Cycling as the vice president of athletics.
Pierce later moved from USA Cycling into corporate America, living in the Pacific Northwest and working in wireless industry sales over the past 14 years. Now, with former vice president of high performance Jim Miller – who Pierce hired at USAC in 2001 – moving on and Scott Schnitzspahn taking over athlete athletics, the time was right for Pierce to return to the sport that he says is still a passion.
Even while working in the corporate world, Pierce continued to dabble in professional cycling; he coaches athletes along with wife Jo Kiesanowski, and he stepped in to drive a VIP car in the Tour of California race caravan. But his new job marks a full-time return to cycling.
'An incredible day' in Paris 31 years ago
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