Book description
'One of the most charismatic and flamboyant cyclists in recent
history' Daily Telegraph
Laurent Fignon is one of the giants of modern cycling.
Twice-winner of the Tour de France in the early eighties, Fignon
became the star for a new generation. In 1989 he took part in one of
the most fiercely-contested Tours of all time. Over the course of
3,285 kilometres he lost out to his American arch-rival, Greg LeMond,
by an agonising eight seconds on the final Parisian time trial.
In this forthright and unflinching account the former champion
spares neither friends nor opponents, nor even himself. In doing so he
gives cycling fans a tantalising glimpse of what really went on behind
the scenes of this epic sport - the friendships, the rivalries, the
betrayals, the scheming, the parties, the girls, and, of course, the
performance-enhancing drugs.
Laurent Fignon lived cycling at its peak. He enjoyed a truly
exceptional career, winning over eighty titles from 1982 to 1993. The
highs were matched by lows of serious injury, periods of self-doubt,
and accusations of cheating.
Fignon's story bestrides a golden age in cycling: a time when the
headlines spoke of heroes, not doping, and a time when cyclists were
afraid of nothing.
Laurent Fignon was born in Paris in 1960. He won the Tour de France
in 1983 and 1984 and the Giro d'Italia in 1989. In June 2009, Fignon
revealed that he was being treated for advanced intestinal cancer and he
died in August 2010.
