The twilight zone called Portugal.

[QueenStagiaire]

And now somehow Portugal is the only place where people actually get legit bans because of passport violations...

That‘s because they‘ve currently arrived in about 2008/2010, they‘re still catching up.

 

[Froome]

And now somehow Portugal is the only place where people actually get legit bans because of passport violations...

Because now the passport is mandatory and these people who run the teams in Portugal are stupid. They risk a lot without having the resources that the WT teams have to hide doping.

 

[zlev11]

wild how pretty much that whole generation of Volta GC riders from 2016-2022 are banned now. only Veloso and Marque made it out alive by retiring.

 

[Froome]

wild how pretty much that whole generation of Volta GC riders from 2016-2022 are banned now. only Veloso and Marque made it out alive by retiring.

Let's see how many time this guy called Nych who won this year the Volta a Portugal will survive.

Sabugal team is also run by dirt people, like w52, and this russian guy is really suspicious, a guy with 74 kg.

 

[Rob5091]

It aint all sunshine in Portugal ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...ng-non-payment-and-chronic-abuse-in-top-teams

"All I know is that there were always a lot of sponsors coming in, but there never seemed to be any money for anything."

 

[Ricco']

It aint all sunshine in Portugal ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...ng-non-payment-and-chronic-abuse-in-top-teams

Portuguese cycling team's management is just a reflection of the general management of businesses in the country.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Portuguese cycling team's management is just a reflection of the general management of businesses in the country.

I can see the same things happening in Italy.

 

[Rob5091]

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...s-suspended-for-biological-passport-anomalies

According to the Lusa news agency, cyclists Luis Mendonça, Luis Fernandes and Venceslau Fernandes have been suspended due to anomalies in their biological passports.

 

[Rob5091]

Say it aint so! Frederick Figueiredo writes on his Facebook page -

I confirm that it is true that a process is underway regarding my biological passport, relating to the years 2018, 2019 and possibly 2020, as I was notified.

 

[Unchained]

Say it aint so! Frederick Figueiredo writes on his Facebook page -

Gotta ask where the money and manpower comes from for inquiries like this. Spending money on race results or rider tests from 5-7 years ago sounds silly.

 

[zlev11]

CyclingHighlights had it 5 months ago

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Luis Fernandes is super unsurprising, his discovery in 2022 of elite climbing skill at the raw, youthful age of just 34 was remarkable. Freddy Watts is not surprising for the watts, but surprising because he'd avoided many hits already.

That 2018 Volta result is looking hilarious now. Balarcón has been removed from 1st place, with the win being inherited by Joni Brandão, currently in the midst of a six year ban. Vicente García de Mateos was 3rd, he was only racing that Volta under a cloud after being cleared of biopass anomalies from 2015 to 2018 a week before the Volta started. He hasn't come close to contending at the Volta since. Edgar Pinto in 4th, João Benta in 6th, João Rodrigues in 7th and Domingos Gonçalves in 8th have all since been wiped from the results (Benta and Gonçalves for Boavista, Pinto for Vito-Feirense and Rodrigues for W52), with 5th place, between them all, being Frederico Figueiredo. Luís Fernandes was 9th, and Daniel Silva - then just returning from a ban for sample-tampering - was 10th (and has since been handed an 8-year ban for a second offence).

37-year-old Alejandro Marque, in 11th, might therefore be the first rider who can be considered remotely trustworthy in the results list then, and even then, he had a suspension between 2013 and 14, although that was later quashed due to paperwork issues but was leaked to the press, and then subsequently used as a pretext by Movistar to annul his contract to free the space and funds to hire Igor Antón out of Euskaltel's fire sale.

12th was David Rodrigues - currently suspended for biopassport violations - leaving ex-Team Sky man Nathan Earle in 13th as the first rider with absolutely no positive tests, suspensions or biopassport violations recorded. After him comes Xuban Errazkin, who tested positive for terbutaline in 2018, Sérgio Paulinho (who was involved with Operación Puerto), and that's your whole top 15.

 

[Rob5091]

2018 Volta is the creme de la creme of clinic results, we can say.

 

[zlev11]

Luis Fernandes is super unsurprising, his discovery in 2022 of elite climbing skill at the raw, youthful age of just 34 was remarkable. Freddy Watts is not surprising for the watts, but surprising because he'd avoided many hits already.

That 2018 Volta result is looking hilarious now. Balarcón has been removed from 1st place, with the win being inherited by Joni Brandão, currently in the midst of a six year ban. Vicente García de Mateos was 3rd, he was only racing that Volta under a cloud after being cleared of biopass anomalies from 2015 to 2018 a week before the Volta started. He hasn't come close to contending at the Volta since. Edgar Pinto in 4th, João Benta in 6th, João Rodrigues in 7th and Domingos Gonçalves in 8th have all since been wiped from the results (Benta and Gonçalves for Boavista, Pinto for Vito-Feirense and Rodrigues for W52), with 5th place, between them all, being Frederico Figueiredo. Luís Fernandes was 9th, and Daniel Silva - then just returning from a ban for sample-tampering - was 10th (and has since been handed an 8-year ban for a second offence).

37-year-old Alejandro Marque, in 11th, might therefore be the first rider who can be considered remotely trustworthy in the results list then, and even then, he had a suspension between 2013 and 14, although that was later quashed due to paperwork issues but was leaked to the press, and then subsequently used as a pretext by Movistar to annul his contract to free the space and funds to hire Igor Antón out of Euskaltel's fire sale.

12th was David Rodrigues - currently suspended for biopassport violations - leaving ex-Team Sky man Nathan Earle in 13th as the first rider with absolutely no positive tests, suspensions or biopassport violations recorded. After him comes Xuban Errazkin, who tested positive for terbutaline in 2018, Sérgio Paulinho (who was involved with Operación Puerto), and that's your whole top 15.

we all knew we were watching something special during those years and it's been confirmed for us now

 

[Mayomaniac]

we all knew we were watching something special during those years and it's been confirmed for us now

Man, I miss the proper Voltas before the W52 fiasco happened. Best race of the season that starts after May...

 

[Mayomaniac]

So, does anyone know what is going on with Mauri Moreira? Did he get scared after collapsing at last year's Volta?

 

[burning]

So, does anyone know what is going on with Mauri Moreira? Did he get scared after collapsing at last year's Volta?

He is probably told to stop as he was competitive against W52 guys back in 2021 and won it with W52 style in 2022.

My favorite Volta was 2017, where W52 guys exploded on Torre and only Neilands was somehow able to hang on, but that top10 is probably less absurd in terms of doping depth

 

[Rob5091]

The only race thread in The Clinic - happy days!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Man, I miss the proper Voltas before the W52 fiasco happened. Best race of the season that starts after May...

You've just got to give it a bit of time to rebuild. The race suffered a little after the consecutive LA-MSS and Liberty Seguros scandals in the late 2000s, with Benfica pulling out and then Cândido Barbosa retiring and the Puerto guys like Bernabéu and Blanco aging out. But then, the circus recovered and came back up again with a whole new collection of clowns, and became the classic Volta again with W52 and Efapel. They may have taken that from us, but the Volta will be back.

I mean, Marcos Maynar, the doctor behind 2008 LA-MSS, was the guy involved in the Miguel Ángel López suspension, so it's not like things have changed, just laying low for a bit.

 

[Mayomaniac]

You've just got to give it a bit of time to rebuild. The race suffered a little after the consecutive LA-MSS and Liberty Seguros scandals in the late 2000s, with Benfica pulling out and then Cândido Barbosa retiring and the Puerto guys like Bernabéu and Blanco aging out. But then, the circus recovered and came back up again with a whole new collection of clowns, and became the classic Volta again with W52 and Efapel. They may have taken that from us, but the Volta will be back.

I mean, Marcos Maynar, the doctor behind 2008 LA-MSS, was the guy involved in the Miguel Ángel López suspension, so it's not like things have changed, just laying low for a bit.

Kinda mean because that song is about Stalin.
But I agree and with Artem Nych and the rest of the team having an altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada before the Volta at least Anicolor seem to have discovered the magic of altitude camps to mask passport irregulations, so fingers crossed.

 

[carolina]

So, does anyone know what is going on with Mauri Moreira? Did he get scared after collapsing at last year's Volta?

Physical problems since the beginning of the year and unable to train properly, according to Azevedo.

 

[Ripper]

Physical problems since the beginning of the year and unable to train properly, according to Azevedo.

Unable to train properly without dopey dope.

Is the Volta almost normal now?

 

[capuldemetal]

the mythical climber tivani strike again.the next pog.can win sprints,can win on climbs

 

[Mayomaniac]

the mythical climber tivani strike again.the next pog.can win sprints,can win on climbs

Was already outclimbing Lipowitz and Dani Martinez on the Alto Colorado in San Juan back in 2023 and was 9th on the same climb in 2020. Not to say that he's clean, but he could always climb pretty well for a sprinter and he is 54min back on the gc. Compared to the Anicolor show he is rather tame.
I am kinda surprised that we never got a Jaime Roson comeback in Portugal, because a Spanish gc rider coming back from a suspension is peak Volta material.

 

[Tim Cahill]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1956233530884637135

The big man going hard at 75kg, get this cosmonaut on UAE or Visma!