Cycling Star Admits to Doping
L I L L E, France, Oct. 24 -- A French cycling star told a court today he used performance-enhancing drugs in the 1998 Tour de France and that doping was as common in his sport as putting air in the tires.
In a quavering voice, Richard Virenque, the leading rider on theFestina team at the heart of the Tour’s greatest drug scandal,testified he played with words in repeatedly denying for years thathe took drugs.
“We don’t say doping. We say we’re preparing for the race,” Virenque said. “To take drugs is to cheat. As long as the persondoesn’t test positive, they’re not taking drugs.”
The doping scandal, centering on Festina, almost wrecked the1998 Tour, the world’s top cycling competition. Its repercussionsare still being felt in the sports world.
“Did you take doping products?” Judge Daniel Delegove askedVirenque on the second day of the trial, expected to last threeweeks.
“Yes,” Virenque responded in a shaky voice. He said he tookdrugs to be part of the team. “I was the black sheep. If I strayedfrom the flock, I was finished.”
Virenque Faces Prison Time
The Festina team was expelled from the 1998 Tour after a teammasseur was caught with a stash of drugs and officials admitted tosystematic doping. Virenque, one of the world’s leadinghill-climbers, was believed to be the biggest cycling star to admitto doping.
“In making this confession, you have grown in stature,”Delegove told Virenque. “You have dropped a defense that was boundto fail. You can now look at yourself in the mirror.”
Virenque, who now rides for Italy’s Polti team, is the onlycyclist among 10 people on trial. He is charged with “complicityin facilitating and inciting the use of doping,” but not withtaking drugs. Virenque faces up to two years in prison.
Among the other nine are former Festina team trainer BrunoRoussel and Willy Voet, the Belgian trainer caught just before theTour started with a load of the performance-enhancingerythropoietin (EPO), in a team car.
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