Veteran Virenque claims yellow jersey

French rider Richard Virenque claimed the Tour de France’s yellow jersey after a dominant solo victory in the race’s seventh stage.

Veteran Virenque, five times a previous Tour King of the Mountains and runner-up overall to Jan Ullrich in 1997, prevailed after a marathon breakaway as the race reached the Alps for the first time.

Second on the day was Germany’s Rolf Aldag with Sylvain Chavanel completing the podium in third place.

Many could not last the pace and among several withdrawals was that of Italian sprint supremo Alessandro Petacchi, who has won four stages this year but quit after just 52 kilometres of the Tour’s longest stage.

Virenque, the team leader of the controversial Festina team in the drugs-tainted 1998 Tour, also took the polka dot jersey awarded to the leader of the King of the Mountains standings.

The Quick Step rider’s feat made him the first man in 32 years to take the two jerseys with a single stage victory and he was given a rapturous reception by French fans who have clearly forgiven his past indiscretions.

Virenque now leads Tour favourite Lance Armstrong by two minutes and 37 seconds after the Texan came home in 15th on the day although the four-times winner is headed only by the Frenchman overall.

Aldag moves up to third, 11 seconds behind Armstrong, while Briton David Millar’s eighth-place finish on the day sees him climb to 23rd overall.

Virenque, born in Casablanca in Morocco, was joined on the victory podium by his young son and daughter and his triumph was a sweet moment for a man who incurred much ridicule after the Festina affair.

While his 1998 team-mates immediately admitted that the team were taking banned products after their masseur was arrested in possession of drugs Virenque continued to protest his innocence – sometimes tearfully – until two years later when he finally confessed.

With those days now behind him, Virenque, also a stage winner at Morzine in 2000, admitted he was thrilled to make his mark on the centenary Tour.

He told French Television: “It feels so good. Every time I win a race I do it my way, it’s magic, and I wanted to do something special on the centenary Tour.

“I was not aiming for the yellow jersey but just for the stage, however I have ended up with the stage and the jersey.”

Virenque was also quick to praise his team-mate Paolo Bettini, who along with Aldag and Frenchmen Benoit Poilvet made up a four-man breakaway group which escaped from the peloton in the early stages.

He said: “The team worked really hard – especially Paolo Bettini. After 12 years it is nice to perform like that.”