Good news for Fignon in cancer fight

Laurent Fignon has continued his fight against digestive tract cancer and remains confident that he will beat the illness. The winner of the 1983 and 1984 editions of the Tour de France told L'Equipe TV that the chemotherapy treatment he is currently undergoing has so far proven to be a success.

"We started a new chemotherapy which works well, it has made the tumors shrink by 17 percent," said 49-year-old Fignon, who still works in cycling as expert commentator for France Televisions. "I'm not restored, but I'm on the right track. There are good days and there are very bad ones, but I decided that I will not die of this."

Fignon also admitted that he was "very tired" after this year's Tour de France where he honoured his commitments as a commentator in spite of his illness.

"Right now, I am often very tired and I don't do much work at all," he said. "I'm dedicated to fighting this cancer. After the Tour, even though I felt bad, I told myself that I would go on, that it would not get me. I try to continue my life as normally as possible and I know that I'll be okay."

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.