The Festina cyclists at the centre of the drugs scandal that has rocked this year's Tour de France have been expelled from the race.

The team's expulsion came hours after suspended team director Bruno Roussel, via his solicitor, acknowledged that drugs had been supplied to Festina cyclists "under strict medical control".

The decision that will send a shock wave through the world of cycling was announced yesterday in Brive La Gaillarde by race director Jean-Marie Leblanc.

It came after a day of drama culminating in the charging under France's anti-drug law of Roussel and team doctor Eric Rickaert.

A blackening cloud has hung over the Festina team ever since masseur Willy Voet was arrested in a Festina car on July 8th on his way to the Tour start in Dublin in possession of 400 vials of assorted drugs.

The Festina team comprises four times King of the Mountains winner Richard Virenque, Pascal Herve, Christophe Moreau, Alex Zulle, Laurent Dufaux, Laurent Borachard, Armin Meier, Didier Rous and Neils Stephens.

They have been kicked out under the Tour rule (article 29) dealing with the sporting ethics and morality. Leblanc called the decision "difficult but essential."

Roussel and Rickaert were charged under France's 1989 anti-drug act by the judge heading the inquiry, Patrick Keil. The duo were arrested on Wednesday and are being detained. Roussel has acknowledged that there did exist in the heart of the Festina operation a policy to supply their cyclists with drugs. "The objective," Roussel's lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial, said, "was to improve performances under strict medical control in order to avoid the unauthorized personal supply to cyclists causing grave attacks on their health which could have been the case in the past."

But Herve strenuously denied ever taking banned substances, saying he only took recuperative products to keep in trim. "I have taken years to do what I do. There is no reason for me to retire."

Festina has been made a scapegoat, according to Roussel's replacement as team director Michel Gros. "I cannot deny that it could be possible because I knew it went on."