Richard Virenque was for decades the most recognizable face of French cycling. Idolized by the public, feared in the mountains, adored by the media and targeted by courts. Second at the 1997 Tour de France, seven polka dot jerseys, seven stage wins: he embodied, for better or worse, the cycling of the 1990s, writes Marca.

In 1998, when he seemed ready to conquer the Tour de France throne, he was swept up in the Festina scandal. "They blackmailed me to make me confess," he tells the Spanish newspaper. "Everything was set up to destroy me," he says today. He would return with other feats. But that was a crack.

He recounts that the famous Courchevel stage was "his" stage: "The day before, near the summit, Pantani let me go, and it really hurt me. I took it as a personal affront. So the next day, at Courchevel, we started from the first climb at full gas with the entire team. It was a matter of pride. I wanted to take revenge on Marco... and we succeeded. That day we took six minutes from him".

"In my case, everything was complicated by the political context. I was a cyclist closely linked to Jacques Chirac. In 1997, when I finished second at the Tour, Chirac was president of France and there was a change of power: the left, with Marie-George Buffett, entered the government. Chirac, who appreciated me, had even publicly declared that I would win the 1998 Tour. I was the darling of the right.

That 1998 Tour de France had started with great expectations. I had won stages and was one of the favorites. But then, at the start of the race, the scandal broke. Willy Voet, the masseur of my Festina team, was arrested in Belgium with doping products. I didn't know he was also a supplier for the group.

When the French courts pressured him, he stated that it was a team problem, that he was just following orders. And that's where everything began. Knowing it was a structural problem in cycling, they focused their attention on me. Because, I repeat, I was Chirac's protégé".

"They waited for me. They didn't arrest me anywhere, but in Corrèze, Chirac's country. It was symbolic. The police arrested me right there. They held me in custody three times, 72 hours each time. And I always tested negative. I was never positive. But despite this, they interrogated me as if I were the mastermind of a doping network. They said I was inciting my teammates to dope. Can you imagine? It wasn't like that. In a team there are doctors, there's a structure. It can't all fall on a single rider".

"Justice singled me out, focused on me. The judge who handled my case, Gilbert, was later convicted of corruption. That judge ended up in prison! This says it all. It was a witch hunt. A political machination to attack Chirac's entourage. And I, as his symbol in sports, paid the price.
After all that pressure, they blackmailed me. They told me that if I spoke, if I confessed, everything would go better. So I did. And then, even though I wasn't convicted, they suspended me for a year. They took away a Tour de France from me. Meanwhile, other teammates who tested positive received three months. Three. I, who never tested positive, received a full year. Is that fair?".

"In 2013, the French Senate made public the test results of the 1998 Tour de France. 180 cyclists were tested. One hundred tested positive. I was not among them. But Pantani, Jan Ullrich, and many others were. Yet, all the pressure fell on me. They distanced me from cycling. They crucified me publicly. And in the end, I paid the consequences. I was the symbol, as if I were responsible for all the evil in cycling. France made me pay dearly... despite being French. Everything I say is verifiable. It's on the internet. I'm not a fantasist".