Christophe Bassons

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Christophe Bassons is a French former professional road racing cyclist. He was born on June 10, 1974 in Mazamet (Tarn).

Christophe Bassons first did studies in civil engineering, and has a diploma as foreman of public works.

He began his career in 1991 in all-terrain biking. As an amateur Bassons won the Tour du Tarn et Garonne. Bassons became a professional racer in 1996 in the soon defunct team Force Sud before joining the La Française des Jeux team. In 1998 he finished third in the French national time trial championships.

Bassons became known during the 1998 doping Festina scandal surrounding the Festina team atn the 1998 Tour de France, when it became clear that medicalized doping was widespread within that team and others. Bassons' characteristic was that he was one of the few in the teams investigated that, by all testimonies, did not take doping drugs. He then became a symbol of "clean" cycling.

During the 1999 Tour de France, Christophe Bassons published a daily diary, in which he discussed doping issues and the doubts that he had about the performances of certain athletes. In the book that he published later, Positif, he says that he was submitted to various pressures so that he stops discussing doping issues in his diary. He was blamed by Lance Armstrong who suggested him to leave the tour, among others. Armstrong said: "If he thinks cycling is like that, he is wrong and he is better off at home." [1] [2]

In addition to his proposals directly against doping, he is an advocate of professional education of professional sportsmen in order to prepare them for the end of their professional sports career. He especially claims that the professional cycling world is unhealthily "closed", with many former professional racers taking up jobs there after their career is over. In 2001, "desperate about professional cycling" and having obtained qualifications for becoming a sports teacher, he quit professional cycling and began teaching sports.