After the doping controversies in the 1998 Tour de France, the Tour organisation banned some persons from the race, including cyclist Richard Virenque, Laurent Roux and Philippe Gaumont, manager Manolo Saiz and the entire TVM–Farm Frites team.[1] Virenque's team Polti then appealed at the UCI against this decision, and the UCI then forced the Tour organisation to allow Virenque and Saiz entry in the Tour.[3]