The director and doctor of the Festina cycling team, which is at the heart of a doping scandal stalking this year's Tour de France, were remanded in police custody yesterday.

Festina director Bruno Roussel was picked up by police from the northern city of Lille following the end of the Tour's fourth stage in Cholet in western France.

They also detained the team's Belgian doctor Eric Rickaert.

Both men are being held in Cholet, but are likely to be transferred for further questioning to Lille, where the judicial investigation into the doping charges is centred.

Police in Lille, in charge of the investigation, later said they were being held for questioning. French law allows them to be held for as long as 48 hours.

The Tour de France was rocked last week when police found anabolic steroids, growth hormones and masking agents in a car being driven by the masseur of the top ranking Festina team.

The masseur, Willy Voet, was arrested in the north of France en route for Dublin where the Tour started on Saturday.

He appeared before magistrates on Friday charged with illegally importing and trafficking drugs. Voet has said that he was acting under orders from the Festina team and that the drugs were for the consumption of their cyclists.

Roussel has strongly denied the allegations.

The Festina team denied being involved in the case, but Roussel had said he wanted to be heard by the police as quickly as possible to set the record straight.

"Following his wish, Bruno Roussel, director of the Festina team, has been heard by the police since 5.00 p.m," Festina said in a statement.

"He is now in a position to answer the rumours the media have conveyed for the past week about the responsibility of the Festina team, which we formally deny," the team added.

Police also swooped on the hotel used by the Festina team yesterday, apparently to search the riders' bedrooms

Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc again said that expelling the Festina team from the world's showcase cycling event was out of the question.

"Everything that happened took place off the Tour. No riders were involved. Some have urged us to kick the team out, but we have ruled out that possibility," he said.

"It would be unfair to the riders," he added.

But GAN team director Roger Legeay, who chairs the association of professional cycling teams, said sanctions should be taken quickly.

"It is not possible to go on like this for three weeks. The race has been spoiled. We hope for legal or sports sanctions to be taken as quickly as possible," he said.

"We appeal to the conscience of the Festina team," added Legeay.

In 1997 on the Giro d'Italia, the MG-Technogym team pulled out of the race after their hotel was raided by the police and doping products seized.

Former Tour de France rider Marc Madiot, now team director for La Francaise des Jeux, said: "If there are black sheep, they must be kicked out."

The latest development in the doping scandal came as a top Swiss sports doctor went on the record as saying drug-taking among professional cyclists was almost universal.

"To err on the side of caution, I would say that 99 per cent of professional cyclists take drugs, including those on the Tour de France and the others," said Gerald Gremion of Lausanne Hospital. "In total 400 to 500 professionals are destroying their health by taking banned substances," he told the France Soir newspaper.

Gremion said he had decided to speak out because he was outraged at the example professional cyclists were setting for youngsters.

He said that young cyclists were constantly asking him for dangerous drugs because "everybody takes them."

Gremion said that he had quit a Swiss team taking part in last year's Tour of Switzerland and the Dauphine Libere, because its cyclists were systematically taking banned drugs to enhance their performances.

"Every cyclist in the team had his little bag with banned substances and needles. They injected the drugs themselves," Gremion said. "One of these cyclists this year is in the Festina colours."

But the sports director of Post Swiss, the team referred to by Gremion, poured scorn on his allegations.

"He's talking about something he doesn't know anything about," said Jacques Michaud.

"We didn't have very good relations (with Dr Gremion) and our association was short. I think that he is embittered," he added.

Michaud, himself a former cyclist who took a stage in the 1983 Tour, is considering taking legal action over Gremion's remarks.

France's minister for sport, Marie-George Buffet, insisted yesterday there was "no reason to stop the Tour de France" over the scandal.

"An inquiry is in place, those involved are being interviewed," she remarked, before paying tribute to the cycling authorities for "leading a fight against doping".