On the night of July 23rd in the Lyon police station, Alex Zulle was questioned as a witness along with the other Festina riders in the case against their team manager, Bruno Roussel, and the team doctor, Erik Rijkaert.
There are unlikely to be criminal proceeding against the riders because the French law on banned drugs at sporting events relates to transport and supply of drugs, not their use.
"I have used EPO for about four years," Zulle, a genial, bespectacled 30-year-old Swiss who won the Tour of Spain in 1996 and 1997 and was runner-up in the 1995 Tour de France, told police.
"The first time was when I was riding for the Spanish Once team. I used the product for every important race, like the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Spain, with two injections of EPO 2000 per week from three to four weeks before the race, and during the whole of the race.
"For the 1998 Tour, I began injecting myself with EPO 2000 in mid-June. Fernando Jimenez (a team doctor) gave me the doses of EPO for the Giro at the start of the year. He gave me eight doses. That was during a small race in Spain at the start of the season. Afterwards, during the races, the team provided me with EPO. It was always Fernando, who injected it into my arm. Sometimes, with him supervising, I injected myself."
Zulle repeated that he had used EPO while at Once, the team he left at the end of 1997 to join Festina. "EPO was used in the same way, and I can say that about 20 riders took EPO under the supervision of the doctor Nico Terrados . . . I can't prove it but I think that today EPO can be found in all the major cycling teams."
Zulle, one of the finest stage racers in the world since he wore the yellow jersey in his first Tour in 1992, added that he had experimented with human growth hormone, a naturally occurring substance which is held to improve recovery and assist in muscle regeneration after exercise. He said he had used it for the first time this year, at his request.
"I wanted so much to win the Tour this year. Dr Rijkaert gave me a dose of human growth hormone every two days during the first week of the Tour, and I injected it myself. But I noticed that it did not have the effect I expected."
The current world champion, Laurent Brochard, also admitted injecting himself with human growth hormone as well as EPO, and spoke of the pressure from within the team to use the drugs.
"Roussel put pressure on us permanently to get results. He never hesitated to incite us to consult the doctor and if necessary to use the usual stuff. When I tried to stop using EPO, I asked myself if I would be able to perform at the same level. So I didn't dare stop."
