Background
He was born in Hazebrouck, France, and currently resides in Lille with his wife and young son.
He was born in Hazebrouck, France, and currently resides in Lille with his wife and young son.
From 2001 until 2005, he was part of the French professional cycling team Cofidis, often as the captain on the road, and then moved to the Belgian team Quick Step-Innergetic. Vasseur turned professional with the team Novemail in 1995, and switched to the GAN team in 1996 which then became Crédit Agricole in 1997. He then wore the yellow jersey as the race leader for five days.
In the 2000 and 2001 seasons, he rode for the United States. Postal team and participated in the 2000 Tour de France.
However, his exclusion from the 2001 Tour de France team led to his switch to the Cofidis team He cited personal differences with the United States Postal Service team star Lance Armstrong, which was widely quoted in French cycling publications.
In the wake of the publication of the USADA memo that proves Lance Armstrong doping practices, he explained that he was excluded because of his refusal to participate in Armstrong"s doping program ("Inutile de rappeler que je n"ai rien à voir dans cette organisation à qui je dois fort probablement ma non-participation au Tour 2001 ainsi que mon éviction de l"équipe")
A counter-analysis later proved negative and Vasseur"s name was then cleared.
Vasseur also claimed some of the evidence in his witness statement had been forged.
However, Vasseur was barred from riding in the 2004 Tour de France since the investigation had not concluded by the time that the race had started. Vasseur came from a family of cyclists: his father Alain Vasseur competed in the 1970, 71 and 74 editions of the Tour de France. Vasseur is considered an all-rounder who can do well in a variety of races.