Best-selling bicycle maker Trek has sued to sever ties with three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, saying his outspokenness about doping weakened the brand.

LeMond also had a “troubling pattern of inconsistent business dealings,” Trek president John Burke said Tuesday.

A message left for LeMond’s attorneys in Minnesota was not immediately returned.

LeMond sued Trek in March, accusing the company of breaching its contract and asking for an injunction to prevent it from ending the deal. The company filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Madison asking permission to break the contract.

Burke told employees during a meeting at the company’s headquarters about 60 miles west of Milwaukee that he met with LeMond in the fall and told him Trek would not renew the contract when it expired in 2010. He encouraged LeMond to find another manufacturer, he said.

LeMond became the first American to win the Tour de France in 1986. Trek began licensing his name in 1995 to make road bikes, and the LeMond brand has about $15 million in sales per year, Burke said.

Burke said LeMond would renege on promises, which included curbing his comments about doping in cycling to focus on the brand. Trek then invested money in the brand, Burke said, only to have LeMond speak out again, which sent sales downward and frustrated dealers and customers.

“Doping is a very important topic for our industry. We never discouraged Greg from speaking out about doping in cycling,” Burke said. “We know there is a difference between attacking an issue and destroying reputations. Greg’s public comments damaged the LeMond brand, and our reputation with retailers and consumers.”

LeMond created controversy last year when he testified during Floyd Landis’ arbitration hearing, saying he had confided to Landis about childhood sexual abuse and Landis’ manager later threatened to disclose LeMond’s secret if he testified. LeMond said Landis had admitted to him that he doped.

Landis had his 2006 Tour de France title stripped from him for doping, but he is appealing that decision.

Trek is best known among cyclists for making the bikes that Lance Armstrong rode in his Tour de France victories. With brands like Trek, Gary Fisher and Klein, the company sells 1.5 million bikes a year and does $700 million in sales.

Trek’s LeMond bikes are mostly produced in Asia. Employees there and in the U.S. will be shifted to other jobs as bicycle sales overall remain strong, Burke said.

LeMond and Armstrong also have feuded over doping since 2001 when LeMond said he was unhappy about Armstrong’s association with an Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who had been linked to doping accusations but later was cleared by an appeals court.

Armstrong cut ties with Ferrari before the 2005 Tour.

Trek has strong ties with Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France. Burke said Armstrong was not informed of the company’s decision to drop LeMond.

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On the Net:

Trek: http://www.trek.com