Eric Rijkaert also written Eric Rijckaert (194327 January 2001) was born in Oostwinkel,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He was a former

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

sports physician and worked with the Festina cycling team. He was said to be at the heart of the

Festina affair The Festina affair was a series of doping scandals within the sport of professional cycling that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a support car belonging to t ...

of 1998 that led to the withdrawal of the entire Festina team during the 1998 Tour de France. Rijkaert was the team doctor 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 and his former assistant

Michele Ferrari Michele Ferrari (born 26 March 1953) is an Italian physician, cycling coach and author, who is mostly known for his role in supplying bicycle racers with performance-enhancing drugs, notably EPO. His most famous client was Lance Armstrong. Biog ...

. Rijkaert was firstly the team doctor of the PDM team from 1986 to 1992. After that he joined the

Festina image:Festina F16184 4.jpg, Festina F16184 Festina is a spain, Spanish watch brand. In 1985, businessman Miguel Rodríguez acquired Festina, a brand founded in Switzerland in 1902, thus forming the ''Festina-Lotus group.'' History Festina w ...

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" (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 Cholet (, , probably from Latin language, Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a Communes of France, commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous c ...

. Rijkaert spent 100 days in jail while suffering from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

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