Pascal Hervé has died at the age of 60. © AFP / PASCAL PAVANI

He once wore the pink jersey: Mourning for former professional cyclist

Former cyclist Pascal Hervé, who was once involved in the Festina affair, is dead.

25 December 2024

From: det

As the French professional cycling association UNCP announced at X, Hervé died in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday at the age of 60. The UNCP did not provide any information on the cause of death. Hervé himself announced in September that he had been operated on in the middle of the year for a cancerous tumor in his stomach. His stomach was completely removed.

Hervé's career was overshadowed by the doping scandal involving the Festina racing team at the 1998 Tour de France, in which he was closely involved as a member of the team that was excluded during the Tour. As the last rider of the nine-man team, Hervé admitted in 2000 to having taken the blood doping agent EPO.

"Yes, I doped"

"It took me two and a half years to admit it. I didn't say it before because I didn't want us to be seen as the only nine idiots caught in the Tour. But now I say, yes, I did dope," he explained at the time.

Hervé experienced the greatest moment of his career in 1996, when he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia and briefly wore the overall leader's pink jersey.