José Neves, the only W52-FC Porto rider to compete, managed to keep the yellow jersey and won the international Douro Grand Prix.
José Neves won the second round of the Douro International Grand Prix this Sunday, managing to defend the yellow yellow medal in the fourth and final round despite no teammates from W52-FC Porto participating in the event.
The day after he became the sole representative of the dragons in the race, after six of his colleagues were sent off before the start of the time trial due to a preventive suspension by the Anti-Doping Authority of Portugal (ADoP), Neves performed the feat alone defending yellow, winning in Lamego.
In the final leg, connecting 148 kilometers with departure and arrival in Lamego, won by Cesar Fonte (Kelly-Simoldes-UDO), the former national champion (2021) maintained a 15-second lead over Antonio Carvalho (Glassdrive-Q8). .-Anicolor) and secured W52-FC Porto’s first overall win of the season.
On a journey with multiple escape attempts, Fonte took the win by attacking in the final kilometers and crossing the finish line in 03:49.20 hours.
His teammate Luis Gómez was second with 28 seconds, the same time as Spaniards Jesús del Pino (Aviludo-Luletano-Loule Consello) and Delio Fernández (Tuna General Tavira-Hotel Maria Nova), third and fourth respectively in race. .
The experienced Fernandes moved up to third overall, finishing 30 seconds behind Neves, who arrived integrated into the first group.
On Saturday, the 26-year-old cyclist, one of the greatest figures in national cycling last season, was alone at the GP Douro Internacional, losing all his teammates to a disqualification imposed by the AdoP.
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 2018 race victory after being suspended due to doping also dragon Raoul Alarcon.
Eight cyclists and two members of the W52-FC Porto team were preemptively suspended by the ADoP on Friday as part of Operation Prova Limpa, a source connected to the process confirmed to Lusa.
The runners, as well as the staff, are given a preventive suspension of 120 days, a period that can be extended “given the complexity of the process.”
In addition to the cyclists who have competed in the International Douro Grand Prix, the W52-FC Porto is also in its ranks with Amaro Antunes, three-time winner and two-time Volta title champion (2021, 2020 and 2017), Samuel. Caldeira, Daniel Mestre and Jorge Magalhães.
At the end of April, ten 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 Trial, who was in charge of the investigative department. Criminal Case (DIAP) 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 the ADoP (Anti-Doping Authority of Portugal),” PJ clarified on April 24.
The W52 structure, linked to FC Porto for six seasons, has won the last nine Volta races in Portugal, but its Spanish driver Raúl Alarcón’s 2017 and 2018 triumphs were also stripped for “using methods and/or prohibited substances”.
