Ullrich denies bribe claim

Jan Ullrich has rejected accusations that he took a bribe to let Richard Virenque win a stage in the 1997 Tour de France, the year the German rider went on to win the race.

"I am not even going to react to such rubbish," Ullrich said. In the book Tour de Vices, published yesterday, Virenque's former Festina trainer, Bruno Roussel, claims that the Frenchman agreed to pay Ullrich to let him win the 14th stage between Le Bourg D'Oisans and Courchevel. Roussel, who received a one-year suspended jail sentence last year for his part in the 1998 Festina drugs scandal, describes the scene on the road.

"You let me win, OK?" Virenque is alleged to have said. "With a discreet sign, two fingers and a thumb that rubbed together, he [Ullrich] gave his answer: 'How much?'"

The following day, Roussel writes, he went to a car park and met someone "close" to Ullrich who said: "It's 100,000 Francs [£9,300]." Virenque allegedly replied: "'No problem. I will pay.'"

Roussel does not say that Virenque paid the money although he describes the episode as a "transaction".

Team doctors were told yesterday what they will be able to carry in the Tour de France, which begins on 7 July. A large supply of authorised drugs will be allowed, as well as "infinitesimal doses" of banned drugs, which must be adapted for "first aid treatment", and riders must be informed that they risk a positive test if they take such substances.