Every year the Tour de France's post office receives many bags of letters for Richard Virenque, who is much loved by female fans for his vulnerable, curly-haired charm and fighting spirit. Virenque's valiant yet unsuccessful attempt to wrest the yellow jersey from Jan Ullrich yesterday is likely to result in a fresh deluge of adoring mail.

The cherubic rider had slipped to more than six minutes behind Ullrich after Saturday's climb to l'Alpe d'Huez, but instead of admitting defeat and merely attempting to defend his second place, he ordered his team, sponsored by Festina, to go on the attack.

Ullrich had looked impregnable so far in this Tour, but he showed signs of weakness on the descent from the first of the day's three massive climbs, the first-category Col du Glandon. He came close to flying off the road on a left-hand bend, while Virenque and three of his team-mates were slightly ahead.

As hairpin succeeded hairpin at dizzying speed, he gradually lost ground. This left the 23-year-old with a difficult choice: he could either waste valuable strength in a lone attempt to catch Virenque and his henchmen, or wait for his own team-mates, who were over a minute behind, and then hope that they had the strength to regain the lost ground.

He showed wisdom beyond his years in taking the second option, setting up an epic pursuit between the Festina foursome and a group led by his Deutsche Telekom team-mates in the valley leading to the day's second mountain, the super-category Col de la Madeleine. Such was the stress that at one point two opposing team men came to blows at 30 miles per hour.

On the 13-mile climb to a summit surrounded by Alpine meadows, both sets of domestiques swiftly dropped back, leaving Virenque on his own, with last year's winner Bjarne Riis leading Ullrich in pursuit, with the opportunistic Spaniard Fernando Escartin in tow. For most of the ascent the 32-year-old towed the young man who had superseded him as the Telekom team leader just a a few days before.

It was a direct reversal of the two men's roles of last year, when Ullrich helped Riis to victory. Such selflessness in a defending winner of the Tour is a rare sight indeed, and it will have only enhanced Riis's vast popularity in his native Denmark. At the foot of the perilous descent down the Madeleine, a sinuous single-track road with no barriers and a sheer drop into a green valley, Virenque was duly overhauled, and another battle, for the stage win, began on the final climb to the ski resort finish.

Ullrich clearly wanted to repay Riis for his assistance by helping the Dane to take the stage, so he simply sat behind Virenque every time the little Frenchman upped the pace. Riis was unable to cope with the changes of rhythm, and was left behind repeatedly, so Ullrich looked back time and again to see where he was.

Eventually Virenque realised that he would have to make the pace on his own, and so he led all the way to the line, high above the bulk of the chalets by Courchevel's altiport. Ullrich clearly entertained thoughts of contesting the finish, but then remembered the unwritten rule of professional racing, that a race leader should let his breakaway companion share the spoils, and permitted Virenque to cross the line first.

It was a gesture he could afford to make, with the Tour effectively in the bag. Virenque was clearly delighted with his third Tour stage win, kissing his finger and pointing to the skies. He is now firmly on course to win the polka dot jersey, awarded to the best climber, for the fourth year running. The record is six, and he may well reach that by the millenium.

No fewer than 76 riders were eliminated after finishing over 38 minutes behind Virenque, more than the set time for the stage.