1983 Tour de France Podium Pennant

Authentic 1983 Tour de France Podium Pennant. These pennants were used at the race and also given to select VIP’s who visited the race.

Laurent Fignon won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984. He nearly captured the Tour de France for a third time in 1989 before being edged by Greg Lemond by 8 seconds, the closest margin ever to decide the Tour.

In 1983, Fignon was a part of the team that helped Bernard Hinault to win the 1983 Vuelta a Espana. Team director, Guimard,  did not want to send Fignon to the Tour de France, because two grand tours might be too much for a young 22-year-old rider.  When Hinault, winner of four of five previous Tours, announced that he would not start due to injury, the Renault team was without a team captain. Fignon was added to the 1983 Tour de France selection for the Renault team, and the team decided to go for stage wins, with hopes of having Fignon or Marc Madiot compete for the young rider classification win. After stage nine, the first mountain stage, Fignon was in second place, behind fellow Frenchman Pascal Simon. In the eleventh stage, Simon crashed and broke his shoulder blade. Simon continued and only lost little time in the next stages. In the fifteenth stage, a mountain time trial, Fignon was able to win back so much time that he was within one minute of Simon.

In the seventeenth stage, Simon had to give up, and Fignon became the new leader. In the next stages, Fignon was able to answer all attacks from his opponents, and he even won the time trial in the 21st stage. At 22 years old, Fignon was the youngest man to win the Tour since 1933.

Fignon later said that he was lucky to have won the 1983 Tour: if Hinault would have been present, Fignon would have helped Hinault, as Hinault was the team leader.

Size: 25.5 x 30.5 cm (10 x 12 inches)

This is a one of a kind item, please review the photos carefully to determine condition.