The owner of the elite Italian team Polti warned yesterday that if his controversial French rider Richard Virenque was barred from July's Tour de France he would withdraw the team and sue the organisers.

Franco Polti, who saw another of his riders Ivan Gotti take the Tour of Italy crown on Sunday following the shock expulsion of Marco Pantani on Saturday for failing a blood test, said that thus far there were only words against Virenque and no physical proof that he took drugs. Virenque will learn on June 16th if he has made the cut.

Despite Polti's claims, French police dealing with two separate investigations into drug taking in cycling have declared that 29year-old Virenque - who has been formally charged with breaking France's drugs laws by Lille magistrate Patrick Keil - has confessed to taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Polti, who took on Virenque in January after he was released by Festina following the drugs scandal last July, admitted he had not spoken to Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc. "However, it's sure I will be talking to him in the next few days," Polti warned.

However, Polti added that his support for Virenque was conditional. "I am not a judge and I will let the judicial process take its own course. There are tests to ensure that Virenque respects the rules and if he doesn't respect them then he's out."

Meanwhile, a test on a second blood sample taken on Saturday morning from Marco Pantani was confirmed yesterday as being beyond the permitted levels.

Pantani had been banned from starting the stage at Madonna di Campiglio after an initial test showed his red corpuscle count to be above the maximum allowed for safety reasons of 50 per cent.