“This is business as usual in cycling”: new revelations in the W52-FC Porto doping trial Cyclists made statements at the beginning of the second day of the trial.

The cyclists Ricardo Mestre, winner of the Volta in Portugal in 2011, and Samuel Caldeira admitted this Friday in court that they took doping after 2020, when they were on the W52-FC Porto, on the second day of the trial of 26 accused in Pacos de de. Ferreira.

The two cyclists, some of the most experienced runners among the 26 accused in the case, testified at the start of the second day of the trial in a pavilion adjacent to the Pacos de Ferreira prison in the Porto district.

“I accept the facts of which I am accused,” said Caldeira, who explained that he began taking doping and also carrying out blood transfusions between the end of 2020 and 2021, just as the accused had already heard on Thursday by João Rodrigues and Rui. Vinhas for “a sense of superiority of opponents.”

Both said they did so of their own free will, inserting themselves into the already widespread context of doping in Portuguese cycling which they said existed, and with the knowledge, connivance and contact of sporting director Nuno Ribeiro, who is also accused .

The Algarve man used the pharmacy where his daughter-in-law, Carina Lourenço, another of the accused, works, “and through it he purchased products such as betamethasone (diprofos), saizen and neurobion.

“At competitions [Nuno Ribeiro] I would send a message to the room, go there, take it and do it in the room,” he said.

The cyclists managed the quantities, passed anti-doping controls and used blood transfusion bags available on the team bus, and the substances were obtained either in-house or in Nuno Ribeiro’s room, in addition to another “ghost room”. as Ricardo Mestre noted, in the most important tests.

When questioned by the prosecutor’s office, Caldeira confirmed that Nuno Ribeiro personally handed over betamethasone, “which would have been outside the test”, and at the competition it was “possible” that this happened.

“Things [para o doping] were not available, they became available. (…) Nuno said: “If you want, go to the room, it’s there,” he said.

Mestre, for his part, confirmed that he took doping to keep up with the rest of the national team, in addition to undergoing blood transfusions and buying products online or at the pharmacy.

“Doping is a normal system in cycling in which we adapt to reach the level we want to achieve,” said Ricardo Mestre.

The Volta2011 winner also admitted the facts and said he began doping “more regularly since 2020”, but later refused to answer questions about the period before the investigation began.

“I was ready, I got a message to go to the room with a room number,” he said of the injectable vitamin competition, later explaining that it was Nuno Ribeiro who told him about the availability.

The biological values ​​were communicated to the sports director and the cyclist confirmed that in 2020 he asked for money to be sent to him to pay for the purchase of products, as well as on other occasions when he tells him what to enter.

“More than once” he received money for these purchases, confirming that he knew “from the closest” runners who doped, especially since he conveyed to the director the values ​​of another cyclist.

Like João Rodrigues the day before, this cyclist also mentioned that he was afraid to take too much and admitted that he did not always follow this recommendation, sometimes taking less, in addition to sharing Caldeira’s opinion that doping is “more or less less common.” , mainly in the Portuguese peloton.”

According to him, this “rule” was one of the factors influencing the decision to dope, and this act made him “ashamed and regretful” and in Tavira he was “regarded as a fraud.”

Pleas of the three other accused, cyclists Ricardo Vilela, Daniel Mestre and Daniel Freitas, as well as the president of the Portuguese Anti-Doping Authority (ADoP) Manuel Brito, are scheduled for the afternoon.

The ADoP sanctioned the cyclists present, with the exception of Jorge Magalhães, whose trial is still ongoing within the sports organization. All of them are serving sanctions for doping, and seven of them – Rodriguez, Viñas, Ricardo and Daniel Mestre, Caldeira, Neves and Vilela – received reduced sentences after admitting their guilt.

At the trial, which began on Thursday, all 26 defendants were responsible for trafficking in substances and prohibited methods, but only 14 of them were responsible for using substances and prohibited methods.