Affected by cancer and weakened due to chemotherapy, double Tour de France victory Laurent Fignon has had to put his TV commentary duties on hold, missing out on Paris-Nice.
According to Feltet.dk, Fignon’s ongoing battle with cancer has meant that the 49 year old has been running low on energy and also has had issues with his voice.
He announced in June of last year that he had found out two months earlier that he had advanced stomach cancer. It has since been discovered that the initial tumours originated in his lungs, then spread to his stomach.
In January Fignon spoke with Paris-Match about the ongoing battle. “Despite my treatments during the last seven months, my cancer has barely diminished,” he said. “I will start new chemotherapy next week. I am not dead, but I am not healing, either.”
He said that an earlier type of chemotherapy had succeeded in shrinking the tumours by 17 percent, but that his body couldn’t handle the side-effects of the product in question.
Fignon admitted last summer to have used doping products during his career. He said that doctors were undecided about whether or not this could have caused his health issues.
He is likely to also miss commentating on Paris-Roubaix. His many fans will hope that this is but an interruption in his new career, and that he will eventually recover and return to his TV analysis.
Fignon won the 1983 and 1984 Tours de France, as well as the 1989 Giro d’Italia. He lost that year’s Tour by just eight seconds, the American Greg LeMond winning the final day time trial in Paris. It is regarded by many as the best Tour de France to date.