Napoleon Blown Apart
The 1990s Castorama team was the continuation of the all-conquering Renault and Système-U teams, which won manager Cyrille Guimard - known as Napoleon - several Tours during the 1970s and 80s. But Castorama would fizzle to an underwhelming end, as Procycling discovers Writer: William Fotheringham Procycling UK - February 2020 January 1990, and the cycling press of the world - in other words, Europe, as the cycling world was back then - were summoned to an Alpine ski resort for a momentous occasion: the world number one and his team were announcing a new sponsor, preceded by a suitably lavish gourmet dinner. Given that the team’s bike supplier was the best-known British bike maker, Raleigh, the UK press all received invites, with the added incentive of one-to-one interviews with said world number one. Laurent Fignon (for it was he) was just coming off a stellar 1989 season in which he had won Milan-San Remo and the Giro d’Italia, not to...