Anatomy of a Photo: Laurent Fignon, 1989 Tour de France
I know the feeling, Laurent. Sometimes I just want to give the cross winds a big, “Fuck You”, too.
I know the feeling, Laurent. Sometimes I just want to give the cross winds a big, “Fuck You”, too.
I like to be the first loser sometimes too.
You should ride for #trekworld then… :-)
Note the sloped forward top tube.
@michael
Hmmm, Michael, aren’t you the same fella who gets altitude training benefits by virtue of your stack height? And now you are dissing a two-time Tour winner?
Some respect would be nice!
Plus it’s very bad form to speak ill of the dead…
@frank
yes exactly.
I have the maillot jaune, a fast bike, a pony tail because I can and want to and I am the strongest man in the tour who will ride everyone else into the ground. Don’t fuck with me cross winds.
So true. This was his attitude.
I recall reading somewhere many moons ago that disc wheels meant to be at their most aerodynamic in cross winds due to the “lift” that they get?
Of course, that same article did state that there may be some control issues which come into play…
And they sound sooooooo cool.
It’s not stack height, it’s back inflexibility that keeps my head up in the air.
And he’s got the wheel graphics aligned perfectly… how fucking pro.
@Marcus
True but they are considerably more unstable because of the much higher side forces – the effect on handling would easily negate the drag reduction.
@brett
while riding with different sized wheels. can’t beat that
@Harry
And they stayed that way for the whole distance…
@Harry
sets a whole new standard of perfection
@ChrisO
Uh oh. Nerd alert
@Brett, @Harry +1
Musta been a shit ton of wind up on Frank vs. the Volcano II.
@Marko
Uh-oh: are we stalling?
Casually deliberate:
I love the headline on the left: “Fignon ne chômera pas.” Translates as Fignon won’t be idle, but idle is a verb.
@michael Le Professeur is much cooler than you.
@brett +1!
@Marcus
What… you started it !
I’m actually not a wheel nerd – the triathlon guys I ride with are obsessive-compulsive about wheels. They agonise over whether to use 808s or 404s and spend vast amounts on the things. Sitting by the side of the road while a triathlete tries to work out WTF has gone wrong with his valve extenders is a regular part of my life.
I try to tell them it’s pretty much the last thing they need to worry about, even purely in terms of aerodynamics. Body position is far and away more significant than wheels.
And they’d make even more improvement spending the money on a swim coach.
Very cool. Can’t wait to get my Viner TT funny bike done. Hopefully be done correctly this winter.
@Steampunk
Attempt started and then possibly abandoned? Just call it reconnaissance and try again when the wind is more favorable. Yeah, yeah. Reconnaissance.
@Marcus
BAM!!!
@Steampunk
In other news, Chiappuicci loses his pedals! Claveyrolat waits for his hour.
Also digging the Casio wristwatch.
@Chris O: Absolutely, plus I tell (the few) tri friends I have to see a psychiatrist so they can figure out who the REALLY are. I mean seriously, who are triathletes?? if they took the bike out of tri’s…what would they do, would it change them, would they go on, comply? would they quit in a mad revolt?? would they ride scooters? how about substituting a round of tennis? or if they took running out…or take out swimming…what would that do, would it change them?? Just HTFU and put on a little more Rule V please, get over the tri-personality.
I mean look at Fignon, he didn’t give a rats ass about weight, heck, his freaking 56t chain ring weighs in a healthy amount. Screw it, its the prom and he is gonna dance.
And look at that frame, artisan made, drawn steel by the boys at Pinarello. Drawn down so low w/the right angles into that headtube so he can find the V-Locus and outrun the man with the hammer. So so sweet.
We need more attitudes that just say ‘screw it’, I’m riding it and I’m riding it faster than you, I will do more homework and put more saddle time in and over come
I just went to Wikipedia to read about Laurent – very interesting that he lost that tour by 8 seconds. Thanks for prompting the history lesson.
@Souleur
If they got rid of cycling there would certainly be a reduction in swim/bike transition area crashes…
Did Pinarello make those funny bikes for Raleigh? Man, what I’d give for one with the double discs. Anyhow, here’s an old TT frame from that era that’s in the project queue. The geometry makes me wince every time I look at it. :)
The video is awesome. Every time I see this, I wonder if LeMan can pull it off again.
Despite losing, he still landed 3rd overall in the TT; LeMond set the fastest-ever non-Prologue average speed, but were it not for LeMond and Marie (who got second), Fignon’s average would have also set a new record. These guys laid down some SERIOUS V.
You guys are real touchy for saying that someone got second place.
@Souleur
Were those Raleighs built by Pinarello? Surprising. If that’s the case, he could easily be riding a Pegoretti.
Reading Obree’s book recently, I finally understood how they made those carbon frames back in those days. They’d build a steel frame, grind it down a bit, and layer carbon over it. In addition to saying, “Fuck you, crosswinds”, they were also saying, “Fuck you, weight weenies.”
I loved that about that era; it was the golden age for componentry. I wrote about it before, but right after they learned to really forge some beautiful stuff, but before they started to care too much about weight, Campa, Mavic, and Shimano really put out some stunning groups.
@Marcus
@Cyclops
I challenge you to get hit by a pickup truck break your back in 3 places and be riding your trainer with a 9.5 cm bar drop 9 weeks later.
HTFU, he got second.
@James
OUTSTANDING! Are those double chainstays? Loves me straight-bladed chrome fork, too. You’ll have to keep us posted on your build.
@scaler911
Pictures, please.
@Marko, @Steampunk, @Jeff in PetroMetro
Even if I’d gone to the top, it wasn’t a real ride since I’d started from the house, not the base. I’m also definitely not peaking yet. Also, the reconn ride was done without any horse anabolics or food, and I just carried plain water. Everyone knows that’s no way to ride a volcano.
But, to the point, yes, there is a fuckton of wind out here right now; the trade winds are really blowing. Going up the mountain you don’t feel it too much, though, thank Merkcx. Once you get up past 8000′ or so, though, it’s blowing hard no matter what direction you’re pointing in. However that works. But we all know it does.
Summit bid will be later this week or next; not sure yet exactly when, but lest assured all you assholes will know about it and have plenty of time to guess my time and pile on heaps of additional pressure.
So when are we going to start talking about what a monster of a team that BMC is becoming now that they have Thor and are going after Gilbert?
@James
This one you ride with the larger wheel in the front so you could actually have your back flat instead of sloping down. They were able to fit it in the small forks because it had what they labeled as a “dynamic off-center axle” at the time.
@frank
VSP! VSP! VSP!
This is way off topic for this post, but I’ve been out in the mountains getting my forest roads on. Anyway, ya’ll seen this link:
http://www.thesufferfest.com/uncategorized/the-book-of-suffering-now-available-and-free/
I have mixed feelings about it. Is it a VM ripoff, or something cool? Same mixed emotions I have about Pharmmy at ’93 Worlds vs ’10 TdF.
Direction on this one please.
Paging through it, I think the whole thing could be summed up and fixed with Rule V. As in yes, it’s supposed to hurt, now Harden The Fuck Up.
@frank
Yes, the chainstays are double tubes brazed together with metal sheeting. The Carrera team of Urs Zimmermann and Stephen Roche rode these back in the day.
1987 TdF Final Time Trial
Great photos, great frames, great comments…
Fignon is Pro personified and he was absolutely right when he said he was one of the last of a generation. My life has been far richer for that generation and the racing and personalities it produced. I wouldn’t still be nuts about the bike 25 years later if it wasn’t for that era.
@James
That was a kick ass ride by Roche, all the way thru. Love the Carrera kits back then.
I suspect Fignon would have won with an aero helmet.
Anyone got any footage of Fignon’s Campag bottom bracket snapping in Blois-Chaville?
@michaelI don’t think anyone would object to you saying Fignon came second, but that’s a bit different from “first loser”. I bet LeMond wouldn’t disrespect him like that, after all a huge part of the reason it was such a great win for him was because Larry was such a BEAST. If we’re touchy it’s out of love for one of the Greats who recently passed.
Good to see you’re riding after such a horrific accident, and don’t listen to the anti-spacer fascists – whatever it takes to ride is what you gots to do.
@michael
Lighten up Francis
Look at the man’s shorts and socks length… you can’t argue with that.
@Marcus you took the bait, again htfu and lighten up yourself Francis, you shouldn’t be so easily shaken.
@Oli, no disrespect for the rider or the man, he was great and died tragically from the same disease / different version my mother died of. I was shocked and saddened when I heard of his passing.
I believe I learned the term “first loser” from this here blawg so sorry if I offended anyone, but unfortunately Fignon will be in the record books for losing by 8 seconds more so than any of his other much greater accomplishments.
@michael
Only by certain Americans with a superficial knowledge of cycling. Fignon’s palmares include two Tours, a Giro, two MSRs, a Fleche – and you are gonna remember him for coming second in a Tour?
Mate, you made a mistake by making a bad call about a recently deceased cycling legend. Leave it at that.
And as for me being shaken, puhleese. The only shaking I will be doing this week is when I am present to see Cuddles hit the stage at his homecoming welcome. He is the guy who just won the Tour – but maybe you remember him for coming second twice.
@michael
This perhaps may be the best 8 sec read of of your life.
@michael
I doubt this. Probably to part-time American fans, but as @brett and others have suggested, the man simply oozed class. And raw power on the bike. There’s a real contradiction to his style: so fluid and beautiful on the one hand and pure, unadulterated V on the other.