remains a good indicator of how Festina was moving in some of the highest circles of France's social and political elite.

It didn't matter, apparently, that Festina was actually a foreign team. A watch-making company from Andorra, Festina had taken over as the main sponsors of a medium-sized Spanish squad, Zahor, in 1989, briefly using the brand name Lotus, one of their lines of watches. Then, when it merged with the Dutch squad PDM in 1993, the renamed Festina team continued to be registered in the principality of Andorra, and Miguel Moreno, one of Spain's top directors, stayed on the team books but was joined by Jan Giesbers, the former PDM boss. Thanks to the merger, Eric Rijckaert, the Flemish doctor who was to become a key figure inlike, where the roads are black with people, where they just move apart enough to let you through. It makes your spine tingle. The backdrop you have on the cols in the Tour is fabulous. You have the feeling that you are going onstage, that you are the star of some great show.'

At the same time, Virenque's willingness to perform for the cameras played wonderfully for French TV, and chimed, too, with the increasingly television-oriented nature of the Tour. Last but not least, Virenque's team played along with him, realising that in terms of publicity, if not in actual results, Virenque was a winner all the way. 'We knew Richard's limits. We played the game of trying to get the yellow jersey, but winning it, that would have