Eric Rijkaert also written Eric Rijckaert (194327 January 2001) was born in Oostwinkel, Belgium. He was a former Belgian sports physician and worked with the

Festina cycling team Festina was a former professional cycling team that was active in the professional peloton from 1989 to 2001. The team was sponsored by the Swiss watch manufacturer of the same name. History Beginnings The team first appeared as ''Lotus-Zahor' ...

. He was said to be at the heart of the Festina affair of 1998 that led to the withdrawal of the entire Festina team during the

1998 Tour de France The 1998 Tour de France was the 85th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race was composed of 21 stages and a prologue. It started on 11 July in Ireland before taking an anti-clockwise route through France to finis ...

. Rijkaert was the

team doctor The team physician for a sports team is the physician who is in charge of coordinating the medical staff and medical services for a sports team. They are also subject to activities involving team building The goal of a team physician is to improve p ...

from 1993 until the Festina affair in 1998.

Career

Rijkaert was active in cycling when EPO was being introduced to the professional peloton by doctors such as

Francesco Conconi Francesco Conconi (born 19 April 1935 in Como, Italy) is an Italian sports doctor and scientist, with disciples such as Michele Ferrari and Luigi Cecchini. Conconi is a professor at the University of Ferrara in Italy where he heads the ''Centro Stu ...

and his former assistant Michele Ferrari. Rijkaert was firstly the team doctor of the PDM team from 1986 to 1992. After that he joined the Festina team where he stayed as doctor until the Festina Affair of the 1998 Tour de France. Rijkaert was said to have proposed the use of EPO to some of the riders. Rijkaert was known amongst the riders as "Dr Fiat Punto" after the "

Punto Punto may refer to: In music: * Punto (Venezuela), a style of Venezuelan music * Punto guajiro, a style of music of the Cuban countryside and its guajiros * Punto music, a style of Panamanian music In automobiles: * Fiat Punto, supermini produced ...

" (a small model of Fiat automobile). This name came about in comparison to the famous Italian physician Michele Ferrari. This was because of his carefulness compared to the high performances yielded by Ferrari. Rijkaert would not let the riders blood haematocrit level go above 53-54%. Rijkaert was under pressure from team management to go higher and further with doping of the riders.Eric Rijckaert
Rijkaert together with Bruno Roussel were arrested during the 1998 Tour de France in the town of Cholet. Rijkaert spent 100 days in jail while suffering from lung cancer which he stated in a book he released in Dutch called ''The Festina Affair'' or ''De Zaak Festina''. This ordeal during the diagnosis of his lung cancer was said to have deeply affected Rijkaert mentally and physically. His book attempted to open a discussion about doping in cycling. In October 2000, Rijkaert was fined approximately 15,000 euros for breaking the law against doping. Rijkaert died from lung cancer in January 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rijkaert, Eric 1943 births 2001 deaths Cycling coaches Belgian sports coaches Drugs in sport in Belgium Deaths from lung cancer Belgian sports physicians