Laurent Fignon died today.
In my English speaking centric teenage years he was very much like Ayrton Senna. He was the favourite and a proven winner and tended to get billed as the bad guy by the English speaking press especially when Lemond/Mansell were around to cheer on. They weren’t losers mind but not as dominant at that point.
As is my way I warm to sportsmen when they start losing and try harder to get back to the top with the means given to them or change focus.
I started to like Fignon when he became a super domestique for, the charmless, Bugno. That’s when his class showed through for me. My first experience of him was chucking water bottles at cameramen in the 1988 tour but I was new to the sport at that point so didn’t know his past and his struggles. The weight of France was on his shoulders as they wanted another French winner, we’re still waiting.
In 1989 he was favourite with Delgado but all I knew about Fignon was he was an angry man who had failed to live up to his youthful supremacy. Lemond was the opposite, a real fairy tail to be even riding let alone winning again.
Unfortunately since then the shine has gone off the tour winners with the massive dominance of 3 riders with very little interest seen in their characters.
F1 was the same. Just as I was beginning to cheer Senna on he died. Leaving us with Schumacher to make the winning dull.
RIP Laurent Fignon