Involved in the Festina affair: At the age of 60: Ex-professional cyclist Hervé died

The ex-cyclist Pascal Hervé, who was once involved in the Festina affair, is dead. As the French professional cycling association UNCP announced on X, Hervé died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the age of 60. The UNCP did not provide any information about the cause of death. Hervé himself announced in September that he had undergone surgery in the middle of the year for a cancerous tumor in his stomach. His stomach was completely removed.

Hervé’s career was overshadowed by the Festina racing team’s doping affair at the 1998 Tour de France, in which he was closely involved as a member of the team that was excluded during the Tour. In 2000, Hervé was the last driver in the nine-man team to confess to having taken the blood doping drug Epo.

“Yes, I doped”

“It took me two and a half years to admit that. I didn’t say it before because I didn’t want us to be seen as the only nine idiots caught on the tour. But now I say, yes, I did dope,” he explained at the time.

Hervé experienced the greatest moment of his career in 1996 when he won a stage at the Giro d’Italia and briefly wore the overall leader’s pink jersey.