GRENOBLE, France, July 23, 2011 (AFP) – Tour de France organizers have
announced they will unveil a statue in Creteil before the final stage on
Sunday to commemorate former champion Laurent Fignon.

Fignon, a two-time winner of the race who, perhaps most famously, lost the
yellow jersey by only eight seconds in 1989 to American Greg LeMond, died on
August 31, 2010 after a long battle with cancer.

The Frenchman, nicknamed the ‘Professor’ because of his straight blond hair
and spectacles, was part of a new wave of up and coming French riders who
emerged in the 1980s to challenge the dominance of Bernard Hinault.

Hinault remains France’s last winner of the race, having won his fifth and
last yellow jersey in 1985.

Fignon missed out on that accolade when, despite starting a final stage
time trial from Versailles to Paris with a 50-sec on Lemond, the American beat
him to overall victory by eight seconds.

Fignon won the Tour in 1983 and 1984 and also won the 1989 Tour of Italy.

The statue of Fignon, created by the sculpter Medee, will remain in Creteil
where Fignon was registered as a club rider.

The 21st and final stage of the race begins in Creteil and will take the
peloton on a 30 km loop of the region immediately south east of the capital
before beginning the first of eight loops around the Champs Elysees.