The unity of the Festina riders at the centre of the Tour's drug controversy came apart yesterday as two-time Tour of Spain winner Alex Zulle and fellow Swiss Laurent Dufaux admitted to taking drugs.
The admissions of Zulle and Dufaux, who was fourth in the 1996 Tour, mean that five of the nine riders, who were expelled from the Tour last Friday after team director Bruno Roussel confirmed they took part in an organised system of doping, have now confessed to taking drugs.
It leaves four-time King of the Mountains winner Richard Virenque, his French compatriots Pascal Herve and Didier Rous plus Australian Neil Stephens still contesting the fact that they took drugs.
The Swiss duo's confessions came during questioning on Thursday night and yesterday morning in Lyon police station - all the riders and two assistant directors were later released.
"They (Dufaux and Zulle) confessed the same as Armin Meier and the two others (Laurent Brochard and Christophe Moreau) to taking drugs. If they hadn't I'm sure they would still be in prison," their manager Marc Biver told Swiss radio.
