Boyer, however, turned professional in 1977 for the smaller Lejeune–BP team, sponsored by a Parisian cycle company and an international oil giant.
He first competed in the Tour in 1981, when the organiser, Félix Lévitan, encouraged him to wear not his team jersey but a Stars and Stripes design which suggested that he was the American national champion.
Many have said that Lévitan, who looked after the financial aspects of the race while his colleague Jacques Goddet managed the sporting side, saw Boyer as a way to attract further American interest and money.
The French team manager, Cyrille Guimard, described Boyer as "un marginal", a description hard to translate but which suggests an outsider, almost a hippie.
The British journalist Dennis Donovan, working for the London magazine Cycling remarked on Boyer's intense religious beliefs.
Boyer also competed in and won the 1980 Coors Classic in the US, and the 1985 Race Across America completing the 3,120 miles in nine days, two hours, and six minutes.