Contents
25 years ago, the Tour of France went down in history as a scandalous tour. Aftermath is still there today.
Legend:
At the heart of the Festina scandal
Frenchman Richard Virenque.
imago images/Bürhaus
236 ampoules of EPO, 82 packs of growth hormones, testosterone preparations, amphetamines and cortecoids – with this arsenal of banned substances, Willy Voet attempted to cross the border from Belgium to France on July 8, 1998. But the Fiat of the Festina team manager is waved out by the customs officials.
It is the beginning of the biggest doping scandal in the history of the Tour de France. Right in the middle: the three Swiss Alex Zülle, Armin Meier and Laurent Dufaux. While Voet is arrested for drug trafficking, the Festina team is still at the start of the “Grande Boucle” in Dublin three days later.
Zülle and Co. end up behind bars
During his interrogation on July 14, Voet testified that he acted on instructions from Festina officials. However, it will still be 5 days before the French team with mountain specialist Richard Virenque is taken out of the race. Team boss Bruno Roussel is arrested, as is team doctor Eric Rijkaert. The Festina drivers end up temporarily behind bars.
“My fridge was always full of medicines,” Rijkaert later put on record and speaks of a doping system that has been in place since 1994. Zülle, Meier and other drivers in the team have also confessed. Virenque, on the other hand, stubbornly denies doping abuse. It wasn’t until two years later that he also unpacked in court.
Festina is just the tip of the iceberg
After the Festina scandal, the tour descended into chaos in the days that followed. Although the tour continues, after numerous interrogations and confessions, other teams are also suspected of doping. The drivers show solidarity with each other. With sit-down strikes they protest against the alleged arbitrariness of the police.
In the following days, doping substances are found in almost all teams during renewed raids, and other drivers and supervisors are arrested. The Dutch TVM team flees during the tour detour in Switzerland, Spanish teams also go home.
Of the 189 professionals who started, only 96 finally reach the finish in Paris. The consequences for cycling are devastating and are still having an impact today. When everything was about to get better in 1999, the Lance Armstrong era began. There are probably no longer any excesses like back then. The fact that the tour is always met with skepticism is partly due to the Festina scandal.