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Tour de France Drug Scandal Chronology
PARIS (AP) -- Key dates in the Tour de France drug scandal:July 8 -- A masseur for the Festina team, Willy Voet, is stopped at the France-Belgium border. His car is found to contain more than 400 drug products, including EPO, a hormone that increases oxygen in red blood cells.
July 10 -- A court in Lille puts Voet under formal investigation -- one step short of being charged.
July 11 -- Tour de France begins in Dublin, Ireland.
July 14 -- Voet changes his story and admits the drugs were for team use, not his own.
July 15 -- Festina director Bruno Roussel and team doctor Erik Ryckaert are detained and questioned by police.
July 16 -- Roussel is suspended by the International Cycling Union.
July 17 -- Roussel admits he supplied illegal drugs to the team to improve performances under medical control. Roussel and Ryckaert are placed under formal investigation and detained. The Tour expels the Festina team.
July 21 -- Ryckaert's lawyer says there was a system of funding illegal drugs through team members' winnings.
July 23 -- Five Festina riders admit taking drugs. The Dutch TVM team comes under scrutiny, and its team director and doctor are detained and questioned.
July 24 -- Roussel, Ryckaert and Voet meet in a Lille court. At the start of the 12th stage, the remaining Tour riders protest, delaying the start two hours.
July 28 -- Police search hotel rooms of team members. Riders for TVM are taken to the hospital and for exams, including blood, urine and hair tests.
July 29 -- The remaining Tour riders stop the stage to Aix-les-Bains twice to protest the treatment of TVM. Three teams drop out of the race. The Tour annuls the stage. A rider from Casino, Rodolfo Massi, is detained by police along with ONCE team doctor Nicolas Terrados.
July 30 -- Two more teams drop out along with some individuals, including former world champion Luc Leblanc. Massi, the leading mountain climber in the Tour, does not start the 18th stage, the first time a rider is barred because of police questioning.
Jly 31 -- Massi and Terrados are placed under formal investigation. The remaining TVM riders drop out. Fourteen teams are left from the original 21, and fewer than 100 riders from the original 189.
Aug. 2 -- The Tour ends in Paris, won by Marco Pantani of Italy.