List of Doping Cases in Cycling - 1990s - 1998

1998

• Laurent Brochard of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed to using performance enhancing drugs. On 15 December 1998 he was suspended by the French Cycling Federation for six months.

• Francesco Casagrande of Italy was caught in March 1998 with a positive testosterone finding. He was suspended for 6 months, later increased to 9 months, and sacked by Cofidis.

• Laurent Dufaux of Switzerland was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed to using performance enhancing drugs.

• Pascal Hervé of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 25 October 2000 he admitted to doping during the 1998 Tour de France.

• Luc Leblanc of France, the 1994 world champion, admitted to the court in the Festina trial he had used performance-enhancing erythropoetin (EPO) to prepare for the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Spanish Vuelta over the last six years (1992–1998). He took EPO in 1994 to compete in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. "It is true, but I could have taken a lot more to win these races", said Leblanc. He also insisted that his Rainbow Jersey was not won on illegal substances.

• Rodolfo Massi of Italy tested positive for Cortisone during the 1998 Tour de France and received a 6 month suspension from the Italian Cycling Federation. He was also fined around $US1800, thrown out of the Tour while wearing the Mountain's jersey and arrested by police. He was accused of being one of the drug dealers in the peloton.

• Armin Meier of Switzerland was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed to using performance enhancing drugs.

• Christophe Moreau of team Festina was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed to using EPO. Confessing alongside the other team members - except Richard Virenque - Moreau served a six-month suspension before returning to racing. On 15 December 1998 he was suspended by the French Cycling Federation for six months.

• Per Pedersen of Denmark who raced the Tour de France on four occasions and worked for Team CSC as a directeur sportif in 2001, confessed to taking substances that are now prohibited. "It concerned cortisone", he admitted in December 2006.

• Didier Rous of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 15 December 1998, he was suspended by the French Cycling Federation for six months.

• Richard Virenque of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 October 2000, he admitted to doping at the 1998 Tour de France but on 22 December 2000, he was cleared by the French court. On December 30, 2000 the Swiss cycling federation gave him a nine-month ban and a 4,000 Swiss franc fine.

• Alex Zülle of Switzerland was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed to using performance enhancing drugs. His hematacrit level was recorded as 52.3%, whereas the maximum allowed figure is 50%. He also stated in court that he has been employing EPO for four years, including during his time with ONCE.

The Festina Affair is the events that surround several doping scandals, doping investigations and confessions of riders to doping that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a car of the Festina cycling team just before the start of the race which led to an investigation, this was followed by the re-opening of a separate case into the TVM team and a subsequent searching of many teams during the race. The affair highlighted systematic doping and suspicion of a widespread network of doping in many teams of the Tour de France and was characterised by the constant negative publicity of the case, police searches of hotels, a spate of confessions by retired and current riders to doping, the detainment and arrest of many team personnel, protests by riders in the race as well as mass withdrawal of several teams from the race.