W52-FC Porto banned from competition

The International Cycling Union has revoked the license from the W52 Futebol Clube do Porto. This decision will prevent the blue and white team from participating in the Volta a Portugal cycling race.

Portuguese federation through statement confirms that he was “notified by the International Cycling Union (UCI) that this organization has decided to revoke the sports license from the W52-FC Porto continental team after the UCI received information about the process taking place in the Anti-Doping Committee. Portuguese authorities.

The FPC also emphasizes in a note that “the decision is effective immediately, so the team cannot compete again”, which makes it impossible from the very beginning for the participation of the “dragons” in the 83rd Volta of Portugal, which takes place from 4 to 15 August.

The W52 structure, linked to FC Porto for six seasons, has won the last nine editions of the national calendar’s ‘queen’ competition, although its Spanish rider Raúl Alarcón’s 2017 and 2018 triumphs were retracted for “use and/or prohibited substances”.

On July 15, eight cyclists and two members of the “staff” of W52-FC Porto were proactively suspended by the Portuguese Anti-Doping Authority (ADoP) as part of Operation Clean Proof.

The next day, the identity of six of these cyclists came to light when they were prevented from lining up for the third round of the Douro Internacional Grand Prix, which was ultimately won by José Neves, the only member of the team to continue in the race. race.

Ricardo Vilela and José Gonçalves were sent off in addition to four former Portugal Volta winners: João Rodrigues (2019), Rui Viñas (2016), Ricardo Mestre (2011) and Joni Brandão who “inherited” the win in 2018 d. edition after Raul Alarcón’s doping ban.

In addition to the cyclists who have competed in the International Douro Grand Prix, the W52-FC Porto is also among its ranks with Amaro Antunes, three-time winner and two-time Volta title winner (2021, 2020 and 2017), Jorge Magalhães, Samuel Caldeira and Daniel Mestre, the latter was also disqualified, which was confirmed by the “boss” of the team, Adriano Quintanilla, to the Record newspaper.

At the end of April, 10 W52-FC Porto runners were charged, and the team’s sports director Nuno Ribeiro was even arrested, as well as his deputy José Rodriguez during Operation Clean Test, who was in charge of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Affairs (DIAP) of Porto.

“The police operation, which involved a total of about 120 people from the Northern Directorate, as well as from the Central and Southern Directorates, from the National Anti-Corruption Unit and from the criminal investigation departments of Braga, Vila Real and Guarda, was also carried out in cooperation with with ADoP,” the JV clarified on April 24, stating that during the same “various substances and clinical instruments that were used in the training of athletes and influenced their sports results were seized.”