[N 1] He eventually informed his parents of his decision to leave university and join the army at the end of the year for his mandatory military service.

[1] In 1981, Fignon rode the Tour of Corsica which allowed amateur cyclists to ride along with professional riders.

Fignon rode an early stage attempting to hold the wheel of Bernard Hinault, the top professional cyclist, and succeeded for much of the race.

[1] Cyrille Guimard observed the young cyclist a few days later at the national 100 km team time trial.

Fignon joined the team in 1982, along with longtime friend and fellow junior rider Pascal Jules.

[11] When Hinault, winner of four of the five previous Tours, announced that he would not start due to injury, the Renault team was without a leader.

[6] With his round glasses and sophisticated, urbane ("debonaire") demeanor, Fignon was a contrast to Hinault's hard-knocks image.

In 1984, Hinault moved to the new La Vie Claire team, established by the French entrepreneur Bernard Tapie and directed by Swiss coach Paul Koechli.

In the 1984 Giro d'Italia, Fignon was in the lead near the end of the race, with Italian Francesco Moser in second place.

The highest mountain stage, where Fignon could have extended his lead as the better climber, was cancelled by race organizers "due to bad weather".

Moser ended up gaining enough time to take the overall race lead, with Fignon being moved back to second place.

Had it not been for the questionable incidents which occurred at the Giro Fignon would have ended the year having won the Giro-Tour double.

Coming into the 1985 season Fignon felt stronger than ever,[6] but two achilles tendon operations caused him to miss the 1985 Tour.

In 1986 Fignon won La Flèche Wallonne[14] and he entered the 1986 Tour de France, but placed poorly in the first individual time trial and retired on stage 12 to Pau.

In the 1989 Tour de France, 1988 winner Pedro Delgado was the big favourite, with Fignon, Stephen Roche, and Erik Breukink listed together as top contenders.

[23] After Delgado was nearly three minutes late for the start of the prologue time trial, the race ended up a battle between Greg LeMond and Fignon.

LeMond won a minute in the time trial in stage five, using aerobars which enabled a new and more aerodynamic riding position (also known as tri-bars as they had previously only been used in triathlons), a new type of teardrop-shaped aerodynamic helmet in the time trials and a rear disc wheel, Fignon used normal road handlebars and a bicycle with both front and rear disc wheels, which left him more affected by cross winds.

Fignon had developed epididymitis in stage 19, which gave him pain and made it impossible to sleep in the night before the time trial.

He also showed his versatility winning the Polynormande, Critérium des As (a race in which each rider motorpaces behind a derny), and the two-man Trofeo Baracchi (which he won with teammate and fellow Frenchman Thierry Marie).

Following this Fignon moved over to the Italian Gatorade team to act as co-captain and advisor to promising young talent Gianni Bugno.

[6] After a dramatic 1992 Giro d'Italia, in which he was in heavy crisis during mountain stages, he rode his last Tour that same year, finishing 23rd overall.

[N 2] Fignon's last victory as professional cyclist was in the early-season Ruta Mexico in 1993, after a tight duel with Francisco Villalobos and surviving a massive collision that saw the group hit by a tow truck driven by a drunken man.

Fignon tested positive for amphetamines a second time, at the Grand Prix de la Liberation, on 17 September 1989.

He noted major changes in the sport in the early 1990s with the onset of routine use of Human Growth Hormone and the blood-booster, EPO.

Fignon stated he was revolted by the idea of taking hormones to enhance performance, and the mere suggestion he refused out of hand.

Fignon wrote an autobiography entitled Nous étions jeunes et insouciants ("We were young and carefree"), which was released in June 2009.

He noted that early in his career he had dabbled with recreational drugs, amphetamines and cortisone, but did not believe they played a role in his illness.