Drug raids at Volta a Portugal
Police search three teams prior to race
On Tuesday, authorities raided three Portuguese teams under suspicion of doping. According to Portuguese news outlet JN.pt, three squads were searched. The teams involved were the continental squads Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista, Efapel Cycling, and Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor.
According to a spokesperson for Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolo, nothing was found by the searches. The Efapel Cycling team also confirmed that the police had searched rider’s homes.
Danish police raid Bahrain Victorious team on eve of Tour de France
There had been rumours that the team had been using blood boosters prior to the race.
Anonymous tip leading to huge police raid, ‘blood bags & tons of banned drugs found’ (per @dntwit), licence withdrawn from top team in ??, national antidoping chief getting a gun cartridge in the post, more raids y’day…
Fair to say Volta a Portugal build-up has been eventful.
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) August 4, 2022
Last Wednesday the UCI suspended the license of Portuguese squad, W52-FC Porto. In April, a dozen riders from the team were named in an investigation related to doping, and in July, eight of them were suspended for three months by the Anti-Doping Authority of Portugal.
