WHILE the riders were paraded in front of 25,000 fans in Trafalgar Square yesterday, the Tour de France staggered through its latest crisis, as eight team managers withdrew from their union, claiming they could no longer associate themselves with their colleagues.

Drugs, as always, was the reason for the row, with six team managers refusing to adhere to the body's ethical code.

The six teams in question all intend to field riders implicated in the Operation Puerto drug scandal, despite the sport's governing body, the UCI, insisting that any rider starting the Tour must sign a declaration stating they will ride cleanly.

Patrick Lefevre, of the Quick Step team told reporters: "I am neither God, nor a judge and I cannot exclude anybody because of what the press have said, or rumours.

"If a national federation gives me a name I can act, but if the Spanish Judiciary says the dossier (from Operation Puerto) cannot be used, my hands and feet are tied."

But that sparked a walk out from Roger Legeay, the vice-president of the union, who said: "You must have credible riders in front of you. We must show that we are applying our code."

The AG2R team were one of the eight to quit the union, with their manager Vincent Lavenu claiming that some rival managers had signed the UCI declaration with "a pistol to their temple".

The French sports daily, l'Equipe, diagnosed the Tour as suffering from gangrene. L'Equipe is required reading for anyone covering the Tour, but the hypocrisy of its editors was at its most absurdly transparent yesterday, when it ran an article claiming it had "irrefutable" proof that Lance Armstrong had used EPO in 1999. The allegations, first made in 2005, are anything but irrefutable.

An arbitration process cleared Armstrong, but as the American bitterly pointed out, some of the mud will stick - which may well be the idea.

In 2002 I cycled from Antibes on the French coast to the Col de Vence with a friend, stopping at the town of Vence, halfway up the mountain.

A 70-year-old French cycling fanatic struck up a conversation with us, insisting that Americans had "perfected the art of doping" and were uncatchable.

In the next breath he regaled us with stories of his hero, the Italian amphetamine user Fausto Coppi.

The double standards displayed by L'Equipe yesterday were almost as breathtaking, as on the page before the Armstrong story, they ran an awestruck interview with Richard Virenque, cycling's most unconscionable drug cheat.

Armstrong, never once failed a dope test. Virenque was banned for a string of offences, including the use of EPO and growth hormone. Could his star status have anything to do with the fact that he's French?

The race finally starts today, with the first rider tackling the London prologue at 3pm. The British favourites, David Millar and Bradley Wiggins, start at 5.49 and 5.55 respectively, with Oscar Pereiro the last man out at 6.08.

See Kent Online tonight for the latest updates.