Willy Voet

Willy Voet is a Belgian sports physiotherapist. He is most widely known for his involvement in the Festina affair in the 1998 Tour de France (often dubbed the "Tour of Shame").

On July 8, 1998, Voet was stopped by French Customs agents as he tried to cross the French-Belgian border close to Neuville-en-Ferrain, near Lille in northern France. In his Festina team car, the agents found large quantities of syringes and controlled substances including narcotics, erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormones, testosterone and amphetamines. He was arrested and the Festina cycling team was suspended from the race. Further investigation lead to the suspension, arrest and prosecution of numerous Festina and TVM team riders and staff.

In 2000, Voet went on trial. He was convicted, given a 10-month suspended sentence and (the equivalent of) a US$4,200 fine.

Voet's book "Massacre à la Chaîne" (translated as "Breaking The Chain") was released in 2002. In it, he claims to have revealed all that he knew regarding doping practices in the cycling world.

Voet says he worked with the Festina team doctor, Eric Rykaert, whose opinion was that drug-taking could not be eliminated from cycling and that it would be better therefore to see that doping happened with medical supervision. Rykaert died soon after the Festina trial and Voet left the sport to become a bus driver. He has been declared persona non grata by the Tour de France management and been asked to stay away from the race even as a private individual. He does maintain contact with cycling, however, and sometimes appears at seminars aimed at a greater understanding and greater restriction of drug-taking in cycling.

ee also

* 1998 Tour de France
* Doping at the Tour de France
* List of doping cases in cycling