Cycling Star Admits to Doping
L I L L E, France, Oct. 24, 2000 -- 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.
The nine defendants risk up to 10 years in prison for“infraction of drug laws and doping legislation and importingmedication as contraband.”
Scandal Led to Tighter Controls
Virenque fell into Voet’s arms after leaving the courtroom,bursting into tears.
“The first step, the toughest, has been made,” Voet said lateron the French LCI television channel. Voet reiterated thebitterness he felt at having been isolated by team members afterconfessing to police.
Virenque’s attorney, Eric Hemmerdinger, commended his client’s“great courage.”
“He explained what happens in the highest level of cycling,”the lawyer said.
The Tour scandal opened the door to speculation about rampantdoping among cyclists in general, and in all sports, and led totighter controls in France and elsewhere.
A former Festina coach, Antoine Vayer, repeated allegations thattwo-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who came back fromtesticular cancer, also took drugs.
“It’s like Lance Armstrong, who rides at 54 kilometers [33miles] per hour. It’s scandalous. It doesn’t make sense,” Vayersaid.
Rumors had dogged Armstrong because of his strong performances,but the American cyclist has repeatedly denied using drugs.Attempts to contact him today were unsuccessful. Armstrong’sagent, Bill Stapleton, declined comment.
Virenque finished sixth behind Armstrong in this year’s tour.
The investigation into the Festina team uncovered a system tofinance banned performance-enhancing substances, notably EPO, whichallows the blood to carry more oxygen.
Voet’s arrest triggered the scandal that dogged the 1998 Tour deFrance, with police carrying out searches of cyclists’ rooms duringthe competition.
The investigation uncovered a system to finance bannedperformance-enhancing substances, notably EPO. There were noaccepted tests for EPO at the time, although cycling and otherbodies, including the International Olympic Committee, have sinceadopted EPO testing.