Richard Virenque cuts a lonely figure on this Tour, even though he is never quite alone. Each morning he can be seen sitting at his table in the Village Depart, the little cluster of sponsors' booths where the caravan meets for coffee and gossip, reading the day's paper with his head down.

During the `Virenquemania' period of 1996 and 1997, `Rico' and his Festina henchmen were the centre of attention, admitting the select to their table like kings in a throne-room. But this year Virenque was forced on the race by a disciplinary committee, fearful of his lawyers. "I am the scabby sheep of the Tour," he said yesterday.

None of his fellow cyclists sits with him in the stand of his sponsor, the vacuum cleaner maker Polti, but he always has company: the group of cameramen and photographers who want to capture the image of the most popular but most detested rider on the Tour.

A year ago Virenque was feted by Jacques Chirac, the French president. In the Vendee a few days ago the local depute made it clear he had no wish to be seen anywhere near him. The only time Virenque seems to find any solace is on the road.

On Monday he could be seen pedalling smoothly in the heart of the front group while behind him his Italian team-mates fought to cut the losses of his co-leader at Polti, Ivan Gotti. By the finish in Saint Nazaire, Virenque had gained six minutes on the little Italian.

For the moment he is Polti's leader; yesterday he was just over a minute behind the race leader Jaan Kirsipuu. For a man of his climbing talent, that is a more than acceptable situation; Sunday's time-trial and next week's Alpine stages will show if he is capable of causing an upset.

As he did each year between 1994 and 1997, he has received more fan-mail through the Tour's post office than all the rest of the field put together, and as the Tour headed through the south of Brittany yesterday his supporters were out in force again. One poster read: "Win the Tour, Richard, and show those shits that you don't take dope."

"Fans who only watch the Tour in summer only know Virenque, so they come to the Tour and make their posters," explained Philippe Bouvet, head of cycling at L'Equipe newspaper. Others are less charitable. Asked about Virenque's popularity his fellow cyclist Cedric Vasseur said acidly: "There may be people who cheer him, but their IQs are clearly as low as his."

Yesterday's run was hard work for those of the peloton left bruised or cut from Monday's mass pile-ups. As the field chased down the day's main escape - a 75-mile effort led by Frederic Guesdon - they were left behind by the main group and fought back on again, time and again.

Yesterday a hectic run-in ended in a second successive stage win for the Belgian Tom Steels, with the Italian Mario Cipollini back in 10th place. Virenque is not the only Tour icon whose lustre is fading.

The 27-year-old Steels, recording his sixth Tour de France stage win in two years and 51st career win, stormed home to take the sprint ahead of German Erik Zabel and Australian Stuart O'Grady. Estonian Jann Kirsipuu, who refused to contest the sprint, retained the overall leader's yellow jersey and has a 17-second lead over Steels.

A German public prosecutor denied yesterday that an investigation into doping allegations launched by his office was in any way connected with Team Telekom or had any connection with the Tour de France. Uwe Kessel said the Dusseldorf prosecutor was looking into charges of illegal substance use brought by the leading German doping expert Werner Franke against an unnamed cycling coach.