From the Library: Laurent Fignon, We Were Young and Carefree...

"Having fun is what prevents you from taking yourself too seriously. Messing about is when you endanger something that actually matters."

A good biography should do more than simply relate a series of incidents into a person's life. It should provide insights contributing to a greater understanding, draw readers in as if they were observing actual events, experiencing the emotions involved as the events were being played out.


Autobiographies go even further; there is no second hand, no opportunity for opinion to cloud the waters, or make the wheels spin untrue as the case may be. No distortion. We are given a clear view into the individuals mind, we see things as he or she saw them. The emotions are as hot or cold as any fact could ever be. There is one thing that Laurent Fignon makes abundantly clear in his autobiography - throughout his career, throughout his life, he strove to be no one other than Laurent Fignon, to remain true to himself above all else. For me, that is what makes his story so compelling.


"You must never disdain a symbolic gesture when you get the chance, even if it's done in infinite sadness."


"The way every life ends is unique in itself, like the end of a little world. Death at twenty-six years of age is a notion that I find unbearable." - Fignon, speaking on the death of teammate and friend, Pascal Jules.


I would not say I was ever really a fan of Fignon. Being a supporter of Lemond, put Laurent in an opposing camp. Never-the-less I could admire his accomplishments and abilities; he was an interesting person and his anecdotes of life in the pro peloton, make this book a worthwhile read.