Willy Voet

Willy Voet (born July 4, 1945) 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").

Voet was born into a working-class family, with a father who worked as a train driver and who had been a semi-professional footballer and a mother who was an upholsterer. Voet started racing bicycles at the age of 15 and enjoyed some success as a junior, winning around 20 races in total, and scoring a win against Herman Van Springel. Voet's first encounter with drugs was at the age of 18 when a friend and club team-mate persuaded him to take amphetamines for a race. He continued racing as an amateur until the age of 23, and returned to cycling as a soigneur six years later. After initially freelancing, he obtained his first contract as a soigneur with the Flandria team. Through his work as a soigneur Voet came to learn about the range of drugs used by riders and the techniques used to evade drug testing. Voet worked for a number of other teams, including Marc Zeep Centrale, Daf-Trucks and RMO, before joining Festina in 1993.

On 8 July 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 led 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.

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