ASO to pay former Tour de France doctor damages

Image 1 of 3

Tour de France owner Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) has been ruled to pay damages to its former race doctor, Gérard Porte, who was dismissed by the organisation in September 2010. On May 16, 2012, the Paris magistrates court decided that the dismissal was unfair and that Porte was entitled to 115,000 Euro in retroactive salary and damages.

Porte, who had been the Tour de France chief doctor for 39 years, stopped working for ASO in 2010 after the race organiser decided to entrust in-race medical assistance to a service provider, the company Mutuaide, who offered the doctor a free-lance contract based on fees. Porte however, reckoned he was on a regular employment contract with ASO, and refused.

The court proved him right and ordered ASO as well as Mutuaide to pay the damages. Porte received the French Legion of Honour title in February 2011.