On the way to Dublin, where the tour began, Festina team manager Willy Voet was arrested at the Belgian-French border three days before the start. Voet was travelling with around 400 ampoules of EPO and other doping preparations. The excitement was great. The Festina team around captain Richard Virenque reflexively distanced itself from Voet.
However, it quickly became clear during police questioning that the Belgian had acted on the instructions of his team. Virenque threatened to sue for defamation, but the Tour organisation was no longer deterred. At 10.50 pm on 16 July, the team was excluded from the Tour. This was followed by interrogations of the riders and raids on hotels. Many teams fled the race. Only 14 of the 21 teams made it to Paris.
In sporting terms, Marco Pantani, who died in 2004, took the overall victory. The Italian took advantage of a bad day for Ullrich in Les Deux Alpes to triumph. A success with dirty means, as it turned out. The report of the anti-doping commission of the French Senate on Wednesday revealed that Pantani, as well as second-placed Ullrich, had doped with EPO. The blood doping agent had been used throughout the peloton.
