When Americans think of cycling, their first thought is usually Lance Armstrong, the dishonored multiple Tour de France winner with only one testicle. Slaying the Badger tries to undo the Armstrong stain with a compelling cycling story that happened long before those yellow wristbands were ubiquitous. Back in the early- to mid-1980s, Greg Lemond was the sport’s American star. His chief rival, Frenchman Bernard “The Badger” Hinault, recruits Lemond as a way to avoid competing against him. But the Tour de France is a strange competition, one that mixes team dynamics with individual achievement, so Lemond and Hinault fight for the yellow jersey throughout the French mountains in 1986. Director John Dower films Slaying the Badger like a thriller: the interviews explain all the nuance and betrayal, while archival footage shows the athletes speeding through the French countryside (without helmets, naturally). Now Lemond is the only official American winner of cycling’s biggest prize, and this documentary shows how that victory comes with bitter memories.