Editing Laurent Fignon (section)

===1984: second Tour victory===
[[File:Laurent Fignon during Tour de France 1984.jpg|thumb|Laurent Fignon (center with yellow jersey) during the Tour de France of 1984.]]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. Fignon stayed with the Renault team, and became team leader.
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". In one of the more outrageous actions of a major tour, on the final stage, an [[individual time trial]], camera helicopters flew in front of Fignon, creating a headwind, and behind Moser, creating a tailwind. Though Fignon repeatedly shook his fists at the obstructing aircraft, they refused to move off.  Moser ended up gaining enough time to take the overall race lead, with Fignon being moved back to second place.<ref>McGann, p. 145.</ref>  He later said the experience made him tougher, and prepared him for the hardships to come.

The [[1984 Tour de France]] was a battle between Fignon and his former team leader Hinault. Hinault won the prologue, but Fignon won back time when his team won the [[team time trial]] in stage three.<ref>McGann, p. 147.</ref> After a large escape in the fifth stage, Fignon's teammate [[Vincent Barteau]] was leading the race. In the seventh stage, Fignon won the time trial, beating Hinault by 49 seconds.<ref>McGann, p. 148.</ref> Barteau was still leading the race, and remained the leader after the Pyrenées.

In the sixteenth stage, Fignon again beat Hinault in a time trial, this time winning 33 seconds.<ref>McGann, p. 150.</ref> In the seventeenth stage, Hinault attacked five times on the penultimate climb, but every time Fignon was able to get back. Then, Fignon left Hinault behind, and won almost three more minutes on Hinault. Barteau was so far behind in this stage, that Fignon became the new leader.<ref>McGann, p. 152.</ref> Fignon won three more stages, for a total of five that year, and won the Tour with a ten-minute margin.

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. With his air of indifference in interviews and his crushing dominance, he was hailed as France's newest superstar.