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The twilight zone called Portugal.

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The news from today is that 10 riders of the team were indicted. The 7 who were at GP O Jogo (José Neves, José Gonçalves, Joni, Daniel Mestre, Vilela, Vinhas and João Rodrigues) plus 3 more. It was a denunciation by a judiciary police inspector who has also a position in the portuguese anti doping authorities. The riders at the scene were subjected to anti-doping tests on the day of the raid but the results are not yet known.

The team had 12 riders signed up for the season, although Guilherme Mota rather surprisingly anounced his retirement from professional cycling weeks ago. Maybe it's connected, maybe it's not, because he comes this year after a somewhat severe injury sustained last summer. Although he appeared recovered and had already raced this year (and finished El Camiño). I find it strange to retire at the age of 22 after signing with the "biggest" team of the country, but who knows.
Surely Antunes is clean!!!!!
 
Surely Antunes is clean!!!!!

I just heard on the news of one of the main portuguese tv channels that between the 10 riders are 3 former Volta winners. So that leaves Rodrigues, Brandao and Vinhas, who were all at the race, and presumably Antunes isn't part of the 10 riders.

But since it's a channel that rarely gives news of cycling outside of portuguese stage wins at the Tour or a small recap of the Tour/Vuelta when they had the rights, I'm not sure they count Brandao as a Volta winner since he didn't won it on the road.
 
Also, it's said that banned substances were found on the rooms. The Porco guys were literally carrying their pharmacy with them. One tier above Rumsas using his wife as a doping mule, I dare to say.

Also unconfirmed I heard rumours (not a 100% source tho) of injectables and even syringes found.

Btw, if they take the victory away from Antunes, the reincarnation of Balarcon, Moreira will take (at least theoretically and if he himself doesn't get involved, of course) the win. You just have to deal with the fact that CycloTugão > your national tour.
 
So even Portugal can sometimes try to crack down on PED use (because it is criminalized there?) . . .

Oh, would that one day I would see a headline reporting something like:
“Federal agents raid Phoenix Suns locker room, reports of multiple prohibited substances found . . .”
or
“Law enforcement authorities descend on U. of Alabama football training facility, numerous players and coaches reportedly charged.”
 
Lol

Quintanilha quote time (link below).

“The situation is not easy, but we have to face the problems and solve them,” ... “If cyclists claim to be innocent, we have to get back to normality and put things right. The team is not suspended by the federation or the UCI and we can compete, as long as the situation of the sporting director is sorted, which will happen in the short term. The return to training together will also serve to bring normality to W52-FC Porto.”

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/04/maj...caught-with-banned-drugs-in-anti-doping-bust/
 
Also, it's said that banned substances were found on the rooms. The Porco guys were literally carrying their pharmacy with them. One tier above Rumsas using his wife as a doping mule, I dare to say.

Also unconfirmed I heard rumours (not a 100% source tho) of injectables and even syringes found.

Btw, if they take the victory away from Antunes, the reincarnation of Balarcon, Moreira will take (at least theoretically and if he himself doesn't get involved, of course) the win. You just have to deal with the fact that CycloTugão > your national tour.
Do you know what banned substances were found? (I've tried searching several times for this info & can't find anything).

Also, are the Continental teams subject to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP?).
 
Do you know what banned substances were found? (I've tried searching several times for this info & can't find anything).

Also, are the Continental teams subject to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP?)
.
As far as I know only in some countries, Portugal has a rudimentary Bio-Passport system, that's why Alarcon got banned.
Team doctors and other stuff members could face legal problems, if they actually found a decent amount of substances in those rooms.
Also, who brings all of his gear to a short, small prep stage race? Seems a bit of an overkill to me...
 
Do you know what banned substances were found? (I've tried searching several times for this info & can't find anything).

Also, are the Continental teams subject to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP?).

No mention of the substances found on portuguese media, at least that I was able to find.

Continental teams can join the BP voluntarily. I think almost all of the continental portuguese teams did.
 
Everyone tested negative, of course.

Testing in Portugal is a joke. The main anti doping lab is so "good" that lost their WADA accreditation a few years back. However, given the high profile of the case I have less reasons to doubt them. So, it means that W52 Porco riders are able to beat the test despite being most likely doped to the gills.

I'm very interested to understand what the cops have apprehended to know what kind of things are not showing up on the test and for what reason (microdosing for example).
 
Everyone tested negative, of course.

Testing in Portugal is a joke. The main anti doping lab is so "good" that lost their WADA accreditation a few years back. However, given the high profile of the case I have less reasons to doubt them. So, it means that W52 Porco riders are able to beat the test despite being most likely doped to the gills.

I'm very interested to understand what the cops have apprehended to know what kind of things are not showing up on the test and for what reason (microdosing for example).
This case could prove extremely interesting. Of course, it depends on what was found, etc., but if numerous PEDs were found but all tests came back neg., that could be quite an explosive finding in the testing world (or could just point to corruption more locally).
 
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This case could prove extremely interesting. Of course, it depends on what was found, etc., but if numerous PEDs were found but all tests came back neg., that could be quite an explosive finding in the testing world (or could just point to corruption more locally).
Still, who even brings all their gear to a short prep race months away from their big season goal?
 
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The guy who told about the all negative tests was the owner of the main sponsor of the team. This week he also said in an interview that he is in the sport since 1989 and none of his riders were ever positive, albeit Alarcon and Pinto were suspended while riding for W52 and César Fonte and Rui Vinhas also tested positive although a TUE was found.
 
  • Haha
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