W52-FC Porto assistant director Jose Rodriguez suspended by ADoP for 25 years

José Rodriguez, deputy director and massage therapist of the defunct W52-FC Porto, was banned for 25 years by the Anti-Doping Authority of Portugal (ADoP) for possession of a prohibited substance and method following a “Clean Test” procedure.

Rodriguez will serve a sentence between September 7, 2022 and September 6, 2047 for “possession of betamethasone, ephedrine, methamphetamine, fenetyline, human growth hormone, IGF, EPO, amphetamine, corticotropin,” according to the ADoP disciplinary sanction list updated today. , hydrocortisone and glucocorticoids.

Nuno Ribeiro’s assistant at the defunct W52-FC Porto, the team’s massage therapist is also one of 26 defendants accused by the Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of trafficking in illegal substances and methods as part of Operation Prova Limpa. also responsible for the offense of substance use and prohibited methods.

According to the indictment, which the Lusa agency had access to, Nuno Ribeiro and his deputy José Rodríguez “with the knowledge and consent” of Adriano Quintanilla, the “boss” of the team, and CEO Hugo Veloso “would have acquired, transferred and decided that their cyclists would have to introduce “substances” that appear on the Prohibited Substances and Active Practices List.”

For DIAP Porto, “Adriano Sousa, Hugo Veloso and Nuno Ribeiro have always acted in combination of efforts and intentions through the plan they developed, the professional hierarchical dependency that the cyclists who made up […] W52-FC Porto decided to use banned substances and use methods that they knew were banned”, which they did in order to “obtain property and non-patrimonial benefits for the team”.

All three, as well as José Rodriguez, “seriously abuse their profession, violating the duty to act in favor of the sporting development of modality and cyclists and sporting truth, encouraging and promoting doping among practicing athletes.”

Rodríguez was the last of those involved in the Prova Limpa process to be punished by the ADoP, who on May 2 suspended Joni Brandão for six years, who finished runner-up three times in the Tour of Portugal.

Brandão was the latest of the former W52-FC Porto cyclists to be sanctioned by the ADoP, three weeks after the organization added seven years to the suspension of Ricardo Vilela, already serving a three-year sanction, for passport anomalies and suspension. José Gonçalves for four years for “possession of prohibited substances” in the somatropin case.

Vilela was one of six cyclists suspended on October 4 by the ADoP for three years for “possession of prohibited substances and prohibited methods”, along with Rui Viñas and Ricardo Mestre, winners of the Tour of Portugal in 2016 and 2011. respectively, and Daniel Mestre, José Neves and Samuel Caldeira.

João Rodrigues, winner of Volta a Portugal 2019 and Volta ao Algarve 2021, was also given a three-year sentence by the ADoP, but the International Cycling Union (UCI) extended his sentence by four years for anomalies in his biological passport.

The ADoP reduced the suspension of these seven cyclists from four to three years for “confessing” – as happened to Daniel Freitas, a former W52-FC Porto cyclist and defendant in the Prova Limpa trial – in contrast to what happened to Brandão. and Gonsalves.

Lawsuits against cyclist Jorge Magalhaes, as well as Nuno Ribeiro, are still pending in sports justice.

They are all among 26 defendants charged with trafficking in prohibited substances and methods in the Prova Limpa trial, which dismantled the W52-FC Porto team, which has dominated national cycling in recent years.

The only one of 11 former W52-FC Porto cyclists who has not been charged, Amaro Antunes, the winner of the 2020 Tour of Portugal, is serving a four-year sentence for anomalies in his biological passport, overseeing a UCI denial, among other things. results, victory in the race “queen” of the national calendar 2021.