The Tour de France continued to limp towards Paris yesterday floored by the detection of yet another haul of banned drugs in an ONCE team van.

This latest seizure was discovered at Chambery on Wednesday evening, where both the ONCE team doctor Nicolas Terrados and the Italian cyclist Rodolphi Massi of Casino were taken in for questioning.

Marc Madiot, sporting director of the La Francaise de Jeux team, was also interviewed by police but was released yesterday afternoon.

An application by police to extend Terrados and Massi's custody was granted yesterday evening and both men are due to appear before Patrick Keil, the instructing judge heading the drugs inquiry, for charging this afternoon.

Massi was detained after prosecutors reported that his room was found to have contained medications belonging to the cortizone family.

According to sources at Lille magistrates' court phials found in the ONCE van have been sent away for analysis.

Once, headed by world number one Laurent Jalabert of France, dropped out of the Tour de France on Wednesday in disgust over its treatment by police, who had carried out a search of the hotel in Chambery where the team was staying after the 17th stage.

In an interview with the daily Le Parisien he accused French police and magistrates of wanting to annihilate the Tour.

Casino's team director Vincent Lavenu, meanwhile, was shocked to learn of the find in Massi's room.

"If that's true that they've found drugs it astonishes me. We must find out what sort of drugs? If it's cortizone because he's asthmatic and allergic, we'll see. If it's doping products, just to transform an athlete, we will hold an internal meeting and take decisions."

Asked if Massi - who had been wearing the King of the Mountains jersey at the time of his detention - suffered from asthma Lavenu replied: "At first glance no, I don't think so."

Only 15 of the original 21 teams began yesterday's 18th stage.

Members of the TVM squad were told yesterday that they will be required to attend further interviews with police in Reims after the Tour ends. The team's star sprinter and winner of the fourth stage Jeroen Blijlevens abandoned the race after the Franco-Swiss border.

Jan Moors, a masseur with TVM in custody in Albertville, was to be moved to Reims late yesterday as investigations continued.

On France's RTL radio, the government Minister for Solidarity Martine Aubry called for the race to be cleaned up in order to "rediscover the sport."