EMBATTLED TOUR TO GO THE DISTANCE

THE Tour de France, teetering on the verge of collapse because of a major
doping scandal, should make it to Sunday's finish in Paris after police
stemmed their investigations.

Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said yesterday that he was confident the
Tour would be completed.

"All together, we are going to complete this Tour, like 84 previous Tours
were completed," he said on the event's internal radio channel, Radio Tour,
at the start of the 18th stage from Aix-les-Bains to Neuchatel, in
Switzerland.

"We are only four days away from the end of the race, and to reach Paris
will be forus a great reward," he added.

Early yesterday, the Spanish teams of Kelme and Vitalicio joined the
fall-out from the Tour, making a total of five withdrawals in 24 hours, and
police said they had found banned drugs in the room of another cyclist.
Italian rider Rodolpho Massi, of the Casino team, who was wearing the King
of the Mountains jersey, was unable to start the stage after he was taken
for questioning by police, and prosecutors later reported his room was
found to have contained substances from the cortisone family of drugs.
Massi's Casino team-mate Stephane Barthe withdrew from the race early in
the stage, citing a lack of motivation.

In Reims, where a judge is currently probing Dutch team TVM on doping
charges, the prosecutor's office confirmed the team riders would be quizzed
by the judge, but only after the end of the race.

Police in Lille, who raided three team hotels in Chambery on Wednesday as
part of their investigations into the Festina team, said they had now
completed all the searches and questioning they had planned.

Riders had threatened to quit if more police raids, which they considered
lacked dignity, took place. "The riders were insulted in the climb to
Revard by the Spanish public," said Alvaro Pino, director of the Spanish
team Kelme, referring to one of the Alpine peaks in Wednesday's segment.
"We received some threats."

Fellow Spanish teams ONCE and Banesto, and Italian team Riso-Scotti, all
quit the competition the previous day, mostly after instructions from their
sponsors. All Spanish teams have now withdrawn, while Festina were thrown
out of the event earlier after its director admitted an organised plan to
administer banned substances to the riders to improve performances.
Festina's top rider, Richard Virenque, has denied using drugs, and said he
would sue the Tour organisers.

"I'm going to court," Virenque said. "I was one of the favourites. I
trained to win this one and they threw me out without me ever testing
positive. It's unfair."

Hearings continued in Chambery yesterday as La Francaise des Jeux team
director Marc Madiot was held, but he was later released and was expected
to return to the race. A ONCE team doctor and a TVM masseur were also
detained.

Leblanc denounced what he called "harassment from justice and the media"
but said the Tour was going on for the public. "We will do it out of
respect for spectators and television viewers," he said.

"I wish to thank those who remained solid, and especially the 103 riders
who were at the start this morning," added Leblane.

Despite fears for the credibility of the Tour, record-breaking Scottish
cyclist Graeme Obree believes the hard lessons being learned about
drug-taking can only be good news in the long term for all sport.

Obree, who yesterday spoke out about the day he gave up on his dream of
riding in the Tour after being confronted by what he termed "the culture of
the needle", says it is inevitable that other sports will now have to
address the problem that has surfaced so controversially in cycling's
premier event.

Double world champion Obree, concerned primarily about the alleged use of
growth hormone EPO, said; "It is not just cycling that may be involved.
Cycling is the first sport where this has come to a head, but there has
been a fear that this could spread to other sports."

He acknowledged, though, that cycling must confront the drugs issue head
on, and added: "[Festina rider] Alex Zulle put a statement out recently
that it was like speeding on a hlghway and he was the one that got caught -
so that implies it is endemic in the sport."

"There has been a gradual ebbing away of credibility in cycling. But now
real changes have to be seen to be made."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski