Tour de France champion Laurent Fignon dies

The cycling world has paid tribute to two-time Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon, who died on Tuesday after a long illness. The French cyclist, who had been suffering from cancer of the digestive system, passed away in a hospital in Paris at the age of 50.

Reuters

Fignon won the Tour twice, in 1983 and 1984, but is perhaps best remembered for missing out on the yellow jersey in 1989 by just eight seconds - the smallest margin by which anyone has ever lost the race.

American Greg LeMond, the cyclist who beat Fignon to first place, hailed him as "one of the great riders who was hampered by injuries".

"The saddest thing for me is that for the rest of his career he said he won two Tours de France, when in reality we both could have won that race," LeMond told France 24 television.

Meanwhile French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to "an extraordinary and exceptional champion who will forever go down in the history of the Tour de France, in French cycling".

Fignon achieved a total of 76 titles during his career, including the Tour of Italy and the Milan-Sanremo. He was the second-last French cyclist to win the Tour de France, followed only by Bernard Hinault in 1985.

His success was later overshadowed after he twice tested positive for illegal substances in the late 1980s.

Fignon will be buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris on Friday.