Cycling: Tour de France hero Fignon dies

(REUTERS)

The dual Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon has died at the age of 50. Fignon, who won the event in 1983 and 1984 and finished second to Greg LeMond by just eight seconds in perhaps the most exciting Tour of all time in 1989, had been fighting cancer.

The Frenchman also won the 1989 Giro d'Italia and the Milan-San Remo in 1988 and 1989. After retiring he managed races, most notably the Paris-Nice event until 2004, before turning his hand to television work.

"He was a great champion who used a combination of talent and will to win the Tour de France twice," said the French Cycling Federation president, David Lappartient. "He had an iron will, and was also a very intelligent man."