At the end of 1997 Alex decided to leave Once after seven years and to join the "Star Team" of Festina, which already had the big names of Richard Virenque, Laurent Brochard, Marcel Wüst and Laurent Dufaux under contract. His arrival was viewed skeptically by many. Richard Virenque is supposed to have raged, "It's just like shoving another supersprinter like Mario Cipollini under Erik Zabel's nose." An understandable reaction - Alex, with his two grand tour victories and a second place in the Tour was the obvious man for the Grand Tours, and Virenque saw his captain's role being taken away from him. If you believe Christophe Basson's book, "Positive," Alex was put down and isolated by the "Virenque crowd," (who called him "the German"!) and so he made friends with Bassons, the other "outsider" on the team. Bassons once said that his best cycling experience was a joint start with Alex in the GP Eddy Merckx. Alex himself said that Virenque was a nice guy and not at all an egoist...

Alex particularly appreciated the multicultural atmosphere at Festina. While Once had almost only Spanish riders, Festina was an international mix of German, Italian, French, Swiss, etc.He developed a close relationship with the German ace sprinter Marcel Wüst, and even gave him one of his pink Giro leader's jerseys. It is rumored that Wüst named his son Alexander after Alex.

Unfortunately there were serious problems during his Festina years. In 1998 team soigneur Willy Voet was caught with forbidden products in his car. A doping scandal exploded, which nearly caused the Tour de France to be broken off and brought many Festina riders a doping-related suspension.

There were many comments about the so-called "Festina Affair." For example, it was often said that Alex lost some ten million Swiss francs in income by being excluded from the Tour and then being suspended without pay (which would have made him the best paid pro cyclist), although he always claimed that he didn't race because of the money. Alex loves his job and is happy to earn his living this way and not by painting walls.

This affair did not affect his popularity: in 1999 he placed second in the vote for "Swiss Athlete of the Year," beating out Markus Zberg, who had placed second in the world championships.