Escarabajo said:
Excellent interview. Thanks.
Just out of curiosity: This is the list of riders that rode him off and that rode with him up the mountain. Some of them were on EPO but it sounded like there were some that he knew by heart had no business climbing those hills:
I think that one of the riders he was referring to was Riis, his friend. There were some others that were ahead of him that were known to be talented before 1990, but we are looking for the big a heavy ones that for almost 90 years of history could never climb.
Could it be that Fignon's talking about a stage in the Dauphine Libere and not that years Tour? That Tour stage finished at Serre Chevalier not Val D'isere. The stage to Isola 2000 was the next days stage, taking in the Col de La Bonnette. I was on the Galibier & Bonnette that year and have a picture of Fignon in the group with Riis.
I'd gone to support Robert Millar having watched the previous stage at Lac De Madine on the main climb of that TT stage (Indurain came up that climb like a motorbike! Robert was riding on the painted white line in the middle all the way up, it was drizzling and I think he was the only rider making the most of the lower friction!). My friend, a runner & Scot, had run next to Robert for about 400m on the Galibier at about 2400m prompting Robert to remark about it in his Tour diary.
Robert was on an off day on the Galibier, but we were on the Bonnette about 200m from the summit the next day and over the moon to see him arrive in first place. Walked back down to our tent and were able to see the end of the stage on a small television in the back of a frenchman's van. Gutted Robert was reeled back in, but he never gave up on the climb to Isola, trying to get away again heroic stuff.
We bumped into Robert after the stage into Montpellier on our way to the Pyrenees, he was good enough to stop for a quick chat on his way to the hotel. We never made The Pyrenees - we had a car crash on the outskirts on Montpellier. Always regret that we never got to see Robert in The Pyrenees, but I have a great photo of him approaching the summit of
The Bonnette.
Sorry about that just 1993 brought it all back!