He said in an interview given to the Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche: "I must make a concession - to show my solidarity with my colleagues who risk suspension - that is, Laurent Brochard, Christophe Moreau and Didier Rous. I will not race again until their suspension is over." The 34-year old rider, who has just signed to stay with Festina has also revealed that he has taken a 50 per cent pay cut as a result of the agreement.
Pascal Herve admitted being upset by the notion that he may have unknowingly been involved in the doping scandal. He said he was a team rider and did not have a lot of choice. He said: "My line remains the same. I am solid with Richard Virenque. We are the two who always have denied being part of it ... no actually there are three of us - because Neil Stephens never acknowledged it either, contrary to what was alleged. We have always denied having voluntarily used any doping products".
The former French amateur champion contradicted allegations that he was involved in the business of the "Belgian pot" (a drug cocktail which circulated in the area of Poitiers) and called upon people to adopt the notion that the riders at Festina were innocent, in spite of the recognition by its former sporting director Bruno Roussel of organised doping under medical control.
He said: "Bruno perhaps expressed himself a little quickly. I am perhaps guilty, as I said to the police officers, to have trusted people. I trusted Willy Voet, Dr. Ryckaert, Bruno. Perhaps that I will henceforth be less trusting."
Pascal Herve also rejected the charges of Willy Voet, the former soigneur of the Festina team, who said he was a large-scale consumer of EPO (erythropoietine). He said: "Voet betrayed me."
He said in relation to his position compared to the team doctors and helpers that: "In the beginning one is not a cheat. One relies on doctors. Some stop with amino acids, others go with the EPO. No doctor says 'Attention, this is very dangerous'. I relied on the doctors to keep me in good sporting condition and to keep me free of illness. I am a rider."
The Criterium got underway at around quarter past three on Noosa Parade, Noosa. Forty cyclists participated in the race, 12 of the participants were "World Top Ranked" cyclist including Stuart O'Grady, Scott Sunderland, Henk Vogles, Patrick Jonker, Robbie McEwen, Jay Sweet, Jonathon Hall, Jason Phillips and Nick Gates.
Twenty-eight local Queensland riders were given a start and the majority of them have raced as elite amateurs in Europe and are the pick of Queensland's best.
During the race several breaks were formed starting with a solo break by Jason Phillips. His lead went out to 20 seconds but it was too early and race came back together and a new beak formed with Henk Vogles and Stuart O'Grady prominent. This however was brought back by some tough riding by Robbie McEwen, Jonathon Hall and the boys from Victors Cycle Sports.
At the Lions Park end of the course one competitor, Anthony Kallens from Astra, took the corner too tightly and fell to the ground sliding into the hay bails and barricades (ouch!), the impact caused the crowd to groan in sympathy but he was all right and had to get himself back into the race. Due to the pace at which the cyclists were travelling (45 - 60khr), unless he could do some fast repair work on his bike, he would not be able to re-join within the allowed time (1 lap).
As the race reached the business end, a new leading break was established by of all people, Anthony Kallen (the crash victim) and Cameron Hughes. These two spent a number of laps by themselves but Stuart O'Grady couldn't be kept out of the action and attacked the field to ride across to the break towing Braden Jones with him. The leading break now had four riders to share the work and it seemed that the winner was going to come from these four riders.
The lap times for the race varied from around one minute fifty to one minute twenty-five. The time gap between the leaders and the rest of the pack varied from six seconds through to 24 seconds. As the competitors neared the end of the race the time between the leading four and the following pack grew smaller.
The leading four started to play tactics and slowed down during the last few tense laps of the Bay Village Criterium. It was going to be anyone's race and even the yellow Jersey winner of the Tour de France wasn't assured of the sprint win. In the end Stuart had to much class for the three local riders and took out the inaugural Bay Village Noosa Criterium from Anthony Kallen and Braden Jones with Cameron Hughes taking the fourth spot. The remaining bunch was lead home by Robbie McEwen.
The post race interviews revealed that the local riders were a bit in awe of the company and class of the field and certainly the three in the break new who was going to win the sprint. Stuart O'Grady revealed that he was actually worried as the break slowed down towards the end and he didn't know wether to attack or chance his sprint not knowing the sprinting ability of the other three riders.
1. Stuart O'Grady 2. Brayden Jones 3. Anthony Kallens 4. Cameron Hughes 5. Christian Wegman 6. Robbie McEwen 7. Henk Vogels 8. Nick Gates 9. Patrick Blannin 10. Jason Phillips 11. Bradley Nightingale 12. Stuart Cowen 13. Terry Nightingale 14. S. Pomfret 15. Craig Saunders