French cyclist Richard Virenque officially joined Italian team Polti yesterday in a two-year deal and vowed to win the Tour de France - although it is by no means certain he will be allowed to compete in this year's race.

Virenque, who was the most famous casualty of the doping scandal that beset the 1998 Tour, when he was part of the Festina team, has been confirmed as Team Polti's team leader for the 1999 Tour but may yet be excluded from the race because of ongoing legal processes.

Virenque was keen to draw a line over the doping row that has sent shock waves through the event.

He said: "I have an enormous motivation. It's what I know how to do. I'm glad to be given the chance to make a new start. My way of expressing myself is on a bike."

The Casablanca-born racer was a member of the Festina team that was expelled from the 1998 Tour after the team's masseur Willy Voet was arrested in possession of a trunkload of drugs.

Virenque, with several of his team-mates, was arrested by French police and forced to undergo medical tests but vigorously denies any wrongdoing.

The 29-year-old admitted there were times he feared he would be frozen out of the sport.

He said: "In December I went around all the teams. I sensed it was finished for me. Everyone was shutting the door. Everyone in France thought I could make a new start immediately but it wasn't like that."

Team Polti is the team run by Italian businessman Franco Polti, who made his fortune in household gadgets especially irons, vacuum cleaners and washing machines which Polti claims are environmentally friendly.

The irony was not lost on Polti, who joked that he was looking to produce an environmentally-friendly racer, who would be doped only with steam. He claims to be the inventor of the domestic steam iron.

Team Polti manager Gianluigi Stanga said: "They must deal with the doping problem in sport. They should not just blame it on Richard. At this moment there is nothing against him, we have treated him like any other cyclist."

Polti added: "I've been looking at him for a long time, he's a character. I like racers like Virenque. I believe in him."