Willy Voet

Who is 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.

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, 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 a US$4,200 fine.

Voet's book Prikken en slikken" was released in 1999. In it, he claims to have revealed all that he knew regarding doping practices in the cycling world. The book also includes photographs of the written doping records he used to keep track of the different performance-enhancing drugs and dosages he had given to each of the team's cyclists.