Richard Virenque

Richard Virenque (born 19 November 1969) is a retired French professional road racing cyclist. He was one of the most popular French riders with fans, known for his boyish personality and his long, lone attacks. He was a climber, best remembered for winning the King of the Mountains competition of the Tour de France a record seven times, and as one of the central figures in a widespread doping scandal in 1998, the Festina Affair.

Childhood Virenque, his parents, his brother Lionel and sister Nathalie lived in the Iseba district of Casablanca. The family was affluent, employing both a gardener and a nurse. His mother described Richard as a gentle, kind boy, full of life, who enjoyed helping her in the garden. His idol was Michael Jackson. His father, Jacques, ran a tire company. As a child, Virenque began cycling by riding round the garden of the family's house. "It wasn't much of a bike," he said. "It had no mudguards, no brakes, and I had to scrape my foot along the ground to stop." Virenque often skipped school to fish on the beach. He told a court during the Festina doping inquiry (see below): "I soon realised that I didn't have the brain to be anything but a racing cyclist." divorced soon afterwards and Virenque said he was devastated.

He rode for the Vélo Club Hyèrois from the age of 13 where, encouraged by his grandfather, he took out his first licence with the Fédération Française de Cyclisme He said he knew he could climb well from the start. "My shorts used to flap round me in those days and my bike was too big for me. On the flat, I clung to the wheels in front as best I could, but the moment there was a hill, I left the others. I've always had that pleasure." He spent his last period as an amateur with the ASPTT in Paris.

In 1990 he came eighth in the world championship road race at Utsunomiya, Tochigi in Japan, riding une course d'enfer to impress Marc Braillon, the head of the professional team, RMO, said Pascal Lino. "I was riding like a kamikaze. I rode out of my skin," Virenque said. It worked: Braillon offered him a contract. he wore the Maillot Jaune for two days in his entire career.

Festina affair In 1998 the Festina cycling team was disgraced by a doping scandal (see Doping at the Tour de France) after a soigneur, Willy Voet, was found when crossing from Belgium to France to have drugs used for doping. Bruno Roussel, Virenque's directeur sportif, told L'Équipe that Virenque responded to the news by saying:

Virenque's teammates, Christophe Moreau, Laurent Brochard and Armin Meier, admitted taking EPO after being arrested during the Tour and were disqualified. Virenque maintained his innocence.

"I am the best climber in the world and he [Virenque] just wears the polkadot jersey." — Marco Pantani Virenque changed teams to Polti in January 1999 and prepared for the 1999 Tour by riding the Giro d'Italia, in which he won a stage. Another Italian, his team-mate Enrico Cassani, said Virenque was referred to in Italy as "the shit". Franco Polti, the head of Virenque's team, fined him 30 million lire. Leblanc said he hoped Virenque would not win.

Virenque rode, at his team's request, on a bicycle painted white with red dots to resemble the polka dot jersey worn by the leader of the mountains classification and he travelled between stages with a bodyguard, Gilles Pagliuca. and included comments of how doping must be fought. He wrote that his team-mates confessed to using EPO because of pressure from the police. He said Moreau's urine showed EPO had not been detected.

The Festina affair led to a trial in Lille, northern France, in October 2000. Virenque was a witness with others from the former Festina team. He at first denied he had doped himself but then confessed. "Oui, je me suis dopé", he told the court's president, Daniel Delegove, on 24 October. and the phrase passed into French popular culture as a sign of hypocritical denial. Voet wrote a book, Massacre à la Chaîne, published in a legally-censored English edition as Breaking the Chain, in which he came close to identifying Virenque as an unrepentant doper.

Post-trial reaction

"For sheer effrontery, Virenque's denial for over two years that he had knowingly taken drugs, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, took some beating." — William Fotheringham writing in The Guardian

Virenque lived near Geneva in Switzerland and the Swiss cycling association suspended him for nine months. The president of the committee which imposed the ban, Bernard Welten, said he deserved a severe penalty because he was one of the biggest drug-takers in the team. The president of the French federation, Daniel Baal, said nine months was halfway between the minimum penalty of six months and the maximum of a year for a first-time offence. He wept repeatedly. Virenque and his family moved back to France as his wife asked. Jalabert followed shortly after his own career ended.

Post-suspension career

Few teams were willing to consider him when he completed his suspension and only a few friends kept in touch. said it could be interested if it found more sponsorship. On 5 July 2001 he joined Domo-Farm Frites, with the help of the former Tour de France winner, Eddy Merckx who, as supplier of the team's bikes, put up the extra money that the main sponsors would not. He was paid the equivalent of £800 a month, the minimum wage, for the last three months of the year and the same salary for which he had first turned professional in 1992. On 25 October 2002, on the eve of the Tour de France presentation at the Palais des Congres in Paris, he signed for another two years. The French magazine, Vélo, called the victory "extraordinary." L'Équipes one-word headline on the front page was "Unbelievable!" Virenque said: "Jacky asked me if we should sit up [give up the breakaway attempt]. There were still 50 km [30 miles] to go. I was longing for someone else to come up to us. A long break wasn't the idea. But when I saw the gap was rising, I shouted' Faut y croire ' [We can do it/We have to believe] But he said he'd run dry."

While Virenque was bettered by Laurent Jalabert in the 2001 and 2002 Tour de France for the King of the Mountains competition, he won his sixth mountains classification in 2003 to tie with Federico Bahamontes and Lucien Van Impe. His day-long breakaway also saw him wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. In 2004 he won the King of the Mountains for a record seventh time. Van Impe criticised Virenque for being opportunistic rather than the best climber; he said he had himself refrained from breaking Bahamontes' record himself out of reverence. Virenque said they were jealous: "They couldn't stand being equal best and they couldn't stand being beaten."

Bahamontes in turn described Virenque as "a great rider, but not a complete rider", and compares him unfavorably as a climber with Charly Gaul and Van Impe.

Virenque ran into trouble again in 2002 when he appeared on a television programme, Tout le Monde en Parle, in June. The presenter, Thierry Ardisson, asked him: "If you were sure of winning the Tour by being doped but knew you would not get caught, would you do it?" Virenque replied: "Win the Tour doped, but without getting caught? Yes."

Retirement Virenque rode the Olympic Games road race in Athens and decided to retire, a decision he announced at the Olympia theatre in Paris on 24 September 2004. In autumn 2005 he opened Virenque Design, a company to design and sell jewellery often featuring the number 7, representing his wins in the King of the Mountains. Since 2005 he has been a consultant commentator for Eurosport, alongside Jacky Durand and Jean-François Bernard and the journalist, Patrick Chassé, where he is described as a "modest competitor" to Laurent Jalabert, the specialist on the rival state network. He has also promoted an energy drink and a pharmacy company.

On 11 August 2006, He broke his nose and needed 32 stitches to his face.

Personal life In December 2007, Virenque and his wife, Stéphanie, divorced after 17 years together. They have two children, Clara and Dario.

Éric Boyer said of Virenque's retirement: "Richard has character, a strong personality. He doesn't let himself go. He looks forwards, never behind. Today, he is a personality [un people]. His return to everyday life has been a success but money isn't an end in itself."

Virenque lives at Carqueiranne in the Var region. He is fond of marmots, dancing, wine, gardening and flowers; he is quoted as saying, "Put me in a good garden nursery and I'm in heaven,"

Career achievements Major results

1991 2nd Trophée des Grimpeurs 7th Overall Route du Sud 7th Grand Prix de Cannes 9th Road race, National Road Championships 10th Tour du Haut Var 1992 1st Bol d'Or des Monédières Chaumeil 2nd Trophée des Grimpeurs 3rd Polynormande 4th Overall Tour du Limousin 6th Road race, National Road Championships 6th Grand Prix La Marseillaise 8th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre 8th Trofeo Pantalica 9th A Travers le Morbihan Tour de France

1993 2nd Overall Tour du Limousin 1st Stage 1 5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1994 1st Trophée des Grimpeurs 1st Circuit de l'Aulne 2nd Overall Route du Sud 1st Stage 2 2nd GP Ouest–France

5th Overall Tour de France

1st Stage 12 5th Classique des Alpes 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 6th Omloop Het Volk 7th Tour du Haut Var 8th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 9th Amstel Gold Race 9th Coppa Placci 1995 1st Polynormande 1st 2nd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre 3rd Classique des Alpes 3rd Trophée des Grimpeurs 4th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

1st Stages 4 & 6 4th Overall Route du Sud 5th Overall Vuelta a España 6th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 8th Tour du Haut Var 9th Overall Tour de France

1st Stage 15 10th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1996 1st Giro del Piemonte 1st Critérium de Vayrac 2nd Circuit de l'Aulne 3rd Overall Tour de France

3rd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

1st Stage 4 (Mont Ventoux) 3rd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre 3rd Coppa Placci 4th Clásica de San Sebastián 4th Milano–Torino 4th Classique des Alpes 4th À travers Lausanne 5th Road race, Olympic Games 5th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 6th Overall Giro di Puglia 6th Coppa Sabatini 7th Overall UCI Road World Rankings 7th Giro di Lombardia 7th Trophée des Grimpeurs 8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 10th Overall Critérium International 1997 1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise 1st Polynormande 1st 1st Critérium de Vayrac 2nd Overall Tour de France

1st Stage 14 2nd Tour du Haut Var 2nd Circuit de l'Aulne 5th Züri-Metzgete 6th GP Ouest–France 6th Trophée des Grimpeurs 6th Breitling Grand Prix (with Christophe Moreau) 7th Overall Vuelta a Burgos 7th Road race, National Road Championships 7th Grand Prix des Nations 7th Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli 8th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st Stage 2b (TTT) 9th Clásica de San Sebastián 10th La Flèche Wallonne 1998 1st Châteauroux Classic de l'Indre Trophée Fenioux 2nd Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st Stage 4 (TTT) 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 4th Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stage 6 6th Tour du Haut Var 10th Milano–Torino 10th Classique des Alpes 1999 1st Stage 13 Giro d'Italia 2nd Polynormande 4th Road race, National Road Championships 8th Overall Tour de France

9th Klasika Primavera 2000 6th Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 16 6th Overall Tour de Suisse 2001 1st Paris–Tours 4th Giro di Lombardia 2002 1st 1st Stage 14 Tour de France (Mont Ventoux)

2nd Overall Tour de l'Ain 3rd Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca 9th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 10th Overall Tour de Pologne 2003 Tour de France

1st Stage 7

2nd Road race, National Road Championships 2nd Châteauroux Classic de l'Indre Trophée Fenioux 5th Overall Tour de l'Ain 2004 1st Tour de France

1st Stage 10

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish DSQ Disqualified

Grand Tour record

Books Ma Vérité 1999 Éditions du Rocher, with C. Éclimont and Guy Caput. Plus fort qu'avant 2002 Robert Laffont, with Jean-Paul Vespini. Richard Virenque Cœur de Grimpeur Mes Plus Belles Étapes 2006 Privat, with Patrick Louis