The scandal started in fairly innocuous circumstances on July 8 1998 when a masseur from the Festina team by the name of Willy Voet was stopped by custom officials in northern France.
However, when Voet's car was searched, he was found to have 400 bottles and capsules of doping products on board on the eve of that year's Tour de France.
The little-known Belgian was jailed and repeatedly questioned by police. Initially his team denied all knowledge, before all hell broke loose on 17 July - towards the end of the first week of the race - when the Festina team were thrown out of the Tour.
That ban came after sports director Bruno Roussel admitted the team had been doped under medical supervision and the resulting chaos undeniably took more of the limelight than Marco Pantani's race win that year - in an ironic twist, Pantani was later exposed as a drugs cheat.
The Festina riders arrested complained of their mistreatment by police, with Virenque describing them as "being dealt with like common criminals". His Festina teammate Alex Zuelle later recalled: "In the beginning, the officials were friendly but then the horror show began. I was put in an isolation cell and had to strip naked. They inspected every cavity.
"The next morning, they confronted me with compromising documents they had found. They said they were used to seeing hardened criminals in the chair I was sitting on. I wanted out of that hellhole so I confessed."
In fact, by July 23, all of the team of riders had admitted to taking drugs except for team leader Richard Virenque and Pascal Herve, who later confessed when the matter finally came to court at the end of 2000 and were banned from cycling, albeit temporarily.
The resulting fall-out from the affair was massive. Other teams pulled out of that year's Tour, among them ONCE, Banesto and Risco Scotti, complaining of their treatment by officials. TVM were also booted out of the race when doping products were found in bins at the team hotel.
Meanwhile, one stage was delayed following a rider sit-down protest and another was cancelled altogether following further rider objections.
Britain's Chris Boardman, a clean rider, had been riding the 1998 Tour, but crashed out and was at home when the scandal hit. He recalled: "What's very sad was that I was happy not to be part of what was the pinnacle of my sport and one of the biggest annual sporting events. It felt so sordid."
But 10 years on have the lessons been learned? Team Garmin boss Jonathan Vaughters, whose team have a ride-clean ethos, explained: "Things have changed. Hopefully doping is now the exception rather than the norm. Sure, the Festina Affair played a part in changing that but it's taken a long time to get from there to now and people's attitude to doping changing. Hopefully, ten years on, we're finally winning the war."
The testing procedures are as solid as they can be. For the first time, there is a test for human growth hormone while riders due to be tested are accompanied from the finish line to the anti-doping laboratory. Riders also have to make their whereabouts known three months in advance.
As one rider said this week: "If they don't catch the cheats like this, they never will."
@Email:sports@thenational.ae
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier
Event info: The tournament in Kuwait is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.
Teams: UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Maldives, Qatar
Friday fixtures: 9.30am (UAE time) - Kuwait v Maldives, Qatar v UAE; 3pm - Saudi Arabia v Bahrain
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Opening weekend Premier League fixtures
Weekend of August 10-13
Arsenal v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Cardiff City
Fulham v Crystal Palace
Huddersfield Town v Chelsea
Liverpool v West Ham United
Manchester United v Leicester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton v Burnley
Watford v Brighton & Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
