Anatomy Of A Photo: Professeur Pavé

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• @frank Maybe not a pony tail, but you could dare to wear one of these Velominati (Brancale) accessories. If you can have these re-produced, then I will certainly buy one for a Cycling Lounge that I am building in the garage.

  And will wear it (occasionally).

• @unversio

  +1 to that!  I would love one of those!

• @unversio the C-record set, still awesome. And I still got it. Weird to see the computer halfway the wheel. Fignon must have had great glasses to see his distance on it!

• All in French but no less awesome. In fact, no translation necessary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ewL8iuQG8&feature=related

• @Nate

  @frank

  @Georges

  Since you're bringing the subject of "The Professor", I was really surprised to read in his biography (Nous etions jeunes et insouciants - We were young and carefree) the following (loosely translated):

  "Contrairement a la plupart des autres géants de la route, on ne m'a jamais affuble d'un surnom. Du début a la fin, qu'on m'ait aime ou non, qu'on ait été impressionné par mes exploits ou non, qu'on ait vu ou refuse de voir en moi un champion d'exception, je suis reste Laurent Fignon. Rien que Laurent Fignon. Moi et rien d'autre en somme."

  "Unlike most of the other giants of the road, I never dons a nickname. From start to finish, whether I was liked or not, whether one has been impressed by my deeds or not, whether one has seen or refused to see me as a champion of exception, I was still Laurent Fignon. Just Laurent Fignon. Me and nothing else really."

  Anyone else noticed that? Did the Professor nickname stick later on or was he just not aware of it?

  Interesting; I don't recall that passage from the book. I've always heard the nickname, Professor, but who knows if it came along later, or maybe only in the English-speaking public? He didn't speak much English, so he could have missed it?

  Maybe it's in the French edition and not the English translation. I think I read an interview with the translator who said he did some editing as well, dropping some passages for various reasons.

  Yeah, he did not like the nickname because he didn't think it fit as he didn't finish very much university. The English translation is one of the best French-English I have ever read (and I was a Canadian Army officer - a lot). I felt the beauty of French in the english. Maybe that's just me.

• @Nate Yes, the passage I quoted was from the french edition of the book.

• So maybe the recent big news events in our beloved sport may have made me overly cynical, but having been a fan of Fignon for over 20 years now, and knowing what a beast he was in multiple disciplines on a road bike, and that he was doping during the peak of his career, I can't help but ask - How does Greg Lemond come back from getting shot and almost dying, having an appendectomy and tendonitis during his rehab and beat the professor clean? And how does he set a record during that tour for average speed in a time trial that has managed to stand through the now proven doping tinged years of Lance and his ilk?

  Is this not a fair question?

• It's a fair question, but we'll never know unless he suddenly confesses so why not take him at his word? His attitude would suggest that he believes in clean cycling, so that's good enough for me without contradictory evidence.

• @LA Dave a VO2 max of 92 as opposed to Pharmstrong's 85 might have something to do with it...

• @LA Dave

  So maybe the recent big news events in our beloved sport may have made me overly cynical, but having been a fan of Fignon for over 20 years now, and knowing what a beast he was in multiple disciplines on a road bike, and that he was doping during the peak of his career, I can't help but ask - How does Greg Lemond come back from getting shot and almost dying, having an appendectomy and tendonitis during his rehab and beat the professor clean? And how does he set a record during that tour for average speed in a time trial that has managed to stand through the now proven doping tinged years of Lance and his ilk?

  Is this not a fair question?

  Yeah, completely fair question and one that has always wiggled around in the back of my head.  I am  a true and dedicated die-hard LeMan fan since 1986 and have loved the guy ever since.  I can only justify it by the fact that he has the highest ever recorded VO2max in a cyclist (I think two nordic skiiers have recorded higher--Bjorn Daehlie and another guy) and the fact that no one was using EPO/HGH then (at least according to Fignon and everyone else that I have read).  There were people using steroids and amphetamines but I am pretty sure that he never used amphetamines.  Perhaps he used steroids, who knows?  His quads were massive at that tour.  But, for now, I give him the benefit of the doubt, and really believe that he didn't.