Festina (cycling team)
The Festina team (also Festina-Lotus from 1993 to 1999 ) was a French professional cycling team that existed from 1990 to 2001. The sports director was the Frenchman Bruno Roussel . The team was sponsored by the Spanish-Swiss watch manufacturer Festina of the same name .
After it was founded in 1990, the team initially only ranked in the middle class. It was not until 1992, when Frenchman Richard Virenque joined the team, that he brought the long-awaited successes: In 1994 he won the Tour de France dotted jersey and initially repeated this success three times for this team. In the same year the team championship could be won at the tour. In addition, virusesque was twice on the podium of the Tour de France in Paris , in 1996 third and 1997 second. Another star in the team was Christophe Moreau , the best French driver in the field several times.
In 2001 the team disbanded after the sponsor's withdrawal.
doping
In preparation for the 1998 Tour de France , the runner-up from 1995 , Alex Zülle , was added to the team. During the tour, on July 8th, Willy Voet , then the team's masseur, was caught trying to smuggle large quantities of the doping agent erythropoietin (EPO) across the Belgian-French border to bring it to the team. As a result, this led to the team's exclusion from the Tour de France and the so-called Festina affair . Cancellation of the tour was considered, but this did not happen. Numerous racing drivers, including Alex Zülle, left the team and switched to other teams, provided they were not suspended.
