Laurent Fignon, winner of the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and the 1989 Giro d’Italia, has died aged fifty. In 2009 he announced that he was suffering from stomach cancer and last April went to the specialists in New York who had treated Lance Armstrong in 1996. He then returned to France for treatment where, despite his advanced illness, he commentated on this year’s Tour de France in July. In his book ‘We were young and carefree’, Fignon admitted to the use of amphetamines and cortisone but always denied any link between this and his cancer. French newspapers report that a private family funeral will be held. .
