Laurent Fignon

Laurent Fignon during the 1993 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Laurent Patrick Fignon
Nickname	The Professor
Born	(1960-08-12)12 August 1960 Paris, France
Died	31 August 2010(2010-08-31) (aged 50) Paris, France
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional team(s)
1982–1985 1986–1989 1990–1991 1992–1993	Renault-Elf Système U Castorama Gatorade
Major wins
Tour de France (1983, 1984), 9 stages Giro d'Italia (1989) Milan – San Remo (1988, 1989) La Flèche Wallonne (1986) Critérium International (1982, 1990)
Infobox last updated on 1 September 2010

Laurent Patrick Fignon^[1] (12 August 1960 – 31 August 2010) was a French professional road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de France in 1983 and in 1984. He missed winning it a third time, in 1989, by 8 seconds, the closest margin ever to decide the tour.^[2] He also won the Giro d'Italia in 1989, after having been the runner-up in 1984, and the classic race Milan – San Remo in 1988 and 1989. He died from cancer on 31 August 2010.

Early life and amateur career[link]

Fignon was born in Montmartre, Paris.^{[3] [1][4]} His family moved to Tournan-en-Brie in 1963, where he lived until he left for Paris at age 23.^[5][6]

His first sport was football and he got as far as playing for his département or area. Friends encouraged him into cycling and he rode his first official race in 1976, which he won.^[6] Fignon's parents did not want him to race, and he raced without them knowing.^[1] He won four more races in his first year, but only one in his second year. In this third year, he won 18 out of 36 races.^[6] Fignon's parents allowed him to race, but still thought that he should study. Fignon entered the University of Villetaneuse, doing Structural and Materials Science.^[1] This study did not go too well, and he left soon. He joined the army, and was posted at the Bataillon de Joinville, known for its sporting reputation. After this, Fignon was sure he wanted to pursue a professional career.^[1]

In 1981, Fignon rode the Tour of Corsica, where professional and amateur cyclists rode together. Fignon was able to hold the wheel of Bernard Hinault, for most of the race.^[1] It was when he rode with the national 100 km time trial team that he caught the eye of the former rider and manager, Cyrille Guimard, who gave him a place in his Renault-Elf-Gitane professional team in 1982, when he was 21 years old.^[6]

Professional career[link]

1982: first professional season[link]

In 1982, Fignon rode the 1982 Giro d'Italia. After Fignon broke away in the second stage, he became the leader of the race, and got to wear the pink jersey.^[6] He lost the lead in the next stage, but became Hinault's most trusted team mate in the mountains.^[6] In Paris–Tours, Fignon had escaped and made a break of 40 seconds, when his crank broke.^[6] During this first year as a professional, Fignon won the Critérium National.^[7]

1983: first Tour victory[link]

In 1983, Fignon was a part of the team that helped Bernard Hinault to win the 1983 Vuelta a España. Guimard did not want to send Fignon to the Tour de France, because two grand tours could be too much for a 22-year old rider.^[8] When Hinault, winner of four of the five previous Tours, announced that he would not start due to injury, the Renault team was without a team captain. Fignon was added to the 1983 Tour de France selection for the Renault team, and the team decided to go for stage wins, with hopes of having Fignon or Marc Madiot compete for the best debutant category.^[9] After stage nine, the first mountain stage, Fignon was in second place, behind Pascal Simon,^[10] and he was allowed to be team leader.^[11] In the tenth stage, Simon crashed and broke his shoulder blade. Simon continued, and only lost little time the next stages. In the fifteenth stage, a mountain time trial, Fignon was able to win back so much time that he was within one minute of Simon.^[12] In the seventeenth stage, Simon had to give up, and Fignon became the new leader. In the next stages, Fignon was able to answer all attacks from his opponents, and he even won the time trial in the 21st stage. At 22 years old, Fignon was the youngest man to win the Tour since 1933.

Fignon later said that he was lucky to have won the 1983 Tour: if Hinault had been present Fignon would have helped him, as Hinault was the team leader.^[6]

With his round glasses and air of debonnaire, Fignon was a contrast to Hinault's hard-knocks image. He earned the nickname "The Professor", not only because of these glasses, but also because he was one of the few cyclists who had passed his baccalaureat exams.^[13]

1984: second Tour victory[link]

In 1984, Hinault changed to the new La Vie Claire team, established by the French entrepreneur Bernard Tapie and directed by Swiss trainer Paul Koechli. Fignon stayed with the Renault team, and became team leader. In the 1984 Giro d'Italia, Fignon was in leading position near the end of the race, with Italian Francesco Moser in second place. The highest mountain stage, where Fignon could have extended his lead as the better climber, was cancelled due to bad weather. In the final stage, an individual time trial, helicopters flew in front of Fignon, creating a headwind, and behind Moser, creating a tailwind. Moser won enough time to win the race, and Fignon ended in second place.^[14] Fignon won the French National Road Race Championships. The 1984 Tour de France was a battle between Fignon and his former team captain Hinault. Hinault won the prologue, but Fignon won back time when his team won the team time trial in stage three.^[15] After a large escape in the fifth stage, Fignon's team mate Vincent Barteau was leading the race. In the seventh stage, Fignon won the time trial, beating Hinault by 49 seconds.^[16] Barteau was still leading the race, and remained the leader after the Pyrenées. In the sixteenth stage, Fignon again beat Hinault in a time trial, this time winning 33 seconds.^[17] In the seventeenth stage, Hinault attacked five times on the penultimate climb, but every time Fignon was able to get back. Then, Fignon left Hinault behind, and won almost three more minutes on Hinault. Barteau was so far behind in this stage, that Fignon became the new leader.^[18] Fignon won three more stages, for a total of five that year, and won the Tour with a ten minute margin. With his air of indifference in interviews and his crushing dominance, he was hailed as France's newest superstar.

1985 and 1986: injury years[link]

The next two years Fignon had injury problems. Even though Fignon felt stronger than ever in early 1985,^[6] a knee injury meant that Fignon missed the 1985 Tour.^[19] Fignon's team gained a new sponsor and became the Système U cycling team in 1986. That year, Fignon won the 1986 La Flèche Wallonne^[11] Fignon entered the 1986 Tour de France, but could not compete for the victory retired on stage 12 to Pau.

1987 and 1988: return to the top[link]

Fignon returned to his full strengths in 1987, when he finished third in the 1987 Vuelta a España, behind Luis Herrera.^[11] After his retirement, Fignon wrote in his biography that Herrera's team manager bribed his team not to attack, which Herrera later denied.^[20] Later that year, he finished 7th overall in the 1987 Tour de France, taking another victory at La Plagne (stage 21). In 1988, Fignon won Milan–Sanremo, but had to abandon the 1988 Tour.

1989: losing by 8 seconds[link]

In 1989, Fignon overtook Sean Kelly as leader of the UCI Road World Rankings. That season included a win at Milan – San Remo and the Giro d'Italia.^[11] In the 1989 Tour de France, Fignon was one of the big favourites, together with Greg LeMond and Pedro Delgado.^[21] After Delgado was too late for the start and lost some minutes, it became a battle between LeMond and Fignon. LeMond won a minute in the time trial in stage five, using aerobars which enabled a new and more aerodynamic riding position, also known as tri-bars as they had previously only been used in triathlons), a new type of teardrop-shaped aerodynamic helmet in the time trials and a rear disc wheel, Fignon used normal road handlebars and a bicycle with both front and rear disc wheels, which left him more affected by cross winds.^[22] LeMond led the general classification after that stage by 5 seconds. In the tenth stage, Fignon beat LeMond by 12 seconds, and became the new leader, 7 seconds ahead of LeMond. In the time trial of stage 15, LeMond again won time on Fignon, and took back the leading position. Fignon came back by dropping Lemond on Alpe d'Huez, taking back the lead, and after he won alone at Villard de Lans the next day, the margin was 50 seconds. Before the final stage, a short time trial of 24.5 km, the time difference between LeMond and Fignon was still 50 seconds, which seemed enough for the victory. French newspapers had prepared special editions with Fignon on the front page, preparing for his victory.^[13] Although it was considered unlikely that LeMond would be able to win back 50 seconds on the 24.5 km, LeMond gave his best, and rode the fastest time trial to date. Fignon had developed saddle sores in stage 19, which gave him pain and made it impossible to sleep in the night before the time trial. Fignon, who rode after LeMond, lost 58 seconds during the stage, and although he became third in the stage, he lost the lead to LeMond.^[23] It was calculated afterwards that if Fignon had cut off his ponytail, he would have reduced his drag that much that he would have won the Tour.^[24]

During that Tour, he was on bad terms with the journalists, and he was given the "Prix Citron" for least likable rider.^[25] That Tour has always been a sore point for Fignon since, and when he got the question "Aren't you the guy who lost the Tour by 8 seconds?" he answered "No, I'm the guy who won it twice."

1990–1993: later years[link]

Fignon withdrew from the 1990 Tour, but finished 6th in 1991. He then stopped being team captain, and transferred to the Italian Gatorade team, to become a domestique for Gianni Bugno.^[6] After a dramatic 1992 Giro d'Italia, in which he was in heavy crisis during mountain stages, he rode the 1992 Tour de France, finishing 23rd overall, taking his ninth and last stage win at Mulhouse on stage 11. Fignon's last victory as professional cyclist was in the early-season Ruta Mexico in 1993, after a tight duel with Francisco Villalobos and surviving a massive collision that saw the group hit by a tow truck driven by a drunken man.^[26] Fignon retired as a professional cyclist late 1993.^[11]

After retirement[link]

In 1995, Fignon founded the "Laurent Fignon organisation", to organize races, notably Paris–Nice,^[7][27] from 2000 until it was taken over by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organiser of Tour de France, in 2002.^[28]

Fignon remained organiser for races such as Paris–Corrèze.^[29] He criticised French cycling, lamenting in L'Equipe that, "The sports directors don't do a good job any more. They lack competence and don't have authority over their riders. The non-results of French teams are not only the consequences of doping,"^[29] alluding to the stringent French doping control.

On his relationships with Cyrille Guimard and Bernard Hinault, Fignon said that with Bernard Hinault, Guimard already found a champion, whereas with himself, Guimard made a champion. Therefore his bond with Guimard was stronger than Hinault's bond with Guimard.

Fignon wrote an autobiography entitled Nous étions jeunes et insouciants ("We were young and carefree"), which was released in June 2009.^[30]

Death[link]

Wikinews has related news: Two time Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon dies at age 50

In June 2009, Fignon revealed that he was undergoing chemotherapy for metastatic cancer. He also admitted to having used banned drugs^[31] amphetamines and cortisone.^[32] Fignon's cancer was diagnosed in April 2009 after being found in his digestive system.^[33]

In January 2010, his doctors discovered that the cancer originated in his lungs.^[34] He died of the disease at 12.30 pm local time^[35] on 31 August 2010, aged 50^[36] at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.^[35][37]

His funeral took place on 3 September 2010 at the Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris, where he was later cremated.^[38] His ashes were placed in the columbarium of the same cemetery almost nine months after his death.^[39] He is survived by both parents.^[5] He is also survived by his son and daughter from his first marriage,^[40] which ended in divorce in 2000. He was married to his second wife from 2008 until his death.^[1]

Significant victories by year[link]

Source:^[41]

Grand Tours overall classification results timeline[link]

Grand Tour	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993
Vuelta	-	7	-	-	7	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Giro	15	-	2	-	-	-	-	1	WD	WD	37	-
Tour	-	1	1	-	WD	7	WD	2	WD	6	23	WD

WD = Withdrew

Publications[link]

• Fignon, Laurent (2010). We Were Young and Carefree. Random House. ISBN 0-224-08319-8. http://books.google.nl/books?id=9fuZQQAACAAJ. 

See also[link]

• List of doping cases in cycling

References[link]

General

• McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2008). The Story of the Tour De France: 1965–2007. Dog Ear Publishering. ISBN 1-59858-608-4. http://books.google.nl/books?id=V8mlwItBhhcC&pg=PA103. Retrieved 31 August 2010. 

Specific

External links[link]

• Official Tour de France results of Laurent Fignon
• Laurent Fignon at the Internet Movie Database
• Cycling Hall of Fame Profile
• Daily Telegraph Obituary