Laurent Fignon died today in Paris of cancer. He was all of 50 years old.
Most Americans remember him as the pony-tailed dude that Greg LeMond punked by eight seconds in the 1989 Tour. But Fignon had a fine career of his own, winning the Tour twice (1983-84) and the Giro once (1989), and taking the flowers in some memorable one-day races as well (Milan-San Remo in 1988-89, Fleche Wallonne in 1986 and Paris-Camembert in 1989). Seventy-six victories in all. Not bad for a French hippie.
Fignon later confessed to doping during his career, and wondered whether it might have had some role in his disease. In his book “We Were Young and Carefree” he wrote: “In those days everyone was doing it. But it is impossible to know to what extent doping harms you. Whether those who lived through 1998, when a lot of extreme things happened, will get cancer after 10 or 20 years, I really can’t say.”
Requiescat in pace, Professor.
Mad Blog Media 
Sad news.
I was there in 1989 both for his Giro d’Italia triumph and his near-triumph at LeTour along with seeing him in person at a few other races over the years. He was on TV at this year’s Giro with fried vocal cords from the chemo…it didn’t look good for him then and sadly he’s gone already. Au revoir, Laurent.
I was in the Pyrenees for the Tour this year and Fignon’s commentary was everywhere there was a TV. Can still hear him. Wish my French was better.
Bummer…the era of pro cycling that got me all jazzed up and riding is losing its heroes…RIP Laurent
Such sad news. He was a guest on Processo alla Tappa the Giro post-stage tv show this year. He was very animated and charming (!) and humble – pushing his voice and thoroughly engaged and engaging. Courageous and present. Rest in peace.
Not exactly sure why other than a slight resemblence, but he sort of reminded me of Warren Zevon. Literate and more on the dry side. And now sadly, they are both gone. And as Warren said on David Letterman right before he passed, “Enjoy every sandwich.” You never know how long any of us will be here. Ride as much as possible and eat dessert first.
Fignon, Armstrong, and the new guy on the Radio Shack team, all with the Big C… Maybe there is something they need to tell us about side effects of some of these meds they use for performance-enhancing that the rest of us who use them for treating disease need to know? I’m a full time lab rat used to test various medications used in combination for bad side effects, and I know that you can have 2 perfectly safe meds used separately that combine to have devastating side effects, I found such a combination back before my low fat diet fully kicked in to reduce my lipids to safe levels, the BP med mixed with a cholesterol med that people with problems with statins have to take reacted to produce a neurotoxin. We found this out because bugs were biting me and expiring before they could stop biting in the case of the mosquitoes. Fleas would bite and drop dead around me, the cats loved me. I would wake up surrounded by piles of live cats and dead fleas.