The reading of the verdict was scheduled for this afternoon; however, it has been postponed because the defense of the Association Calvário Várzea, the cycling club at the origin of the team, chose to use the time allowed to contest a nonsubstantial alteration of facts. This change is related to the legal qualification of the said facts, as announced by the presiding judge.
Consequently, the presiding judge has rescheduled the reading of the verdict for 14:00 on December 12. The trial, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal of Penafiel, is taking place in a facility adjacent to the Paços de Ferreira Prison, in the Porto district.
In May, the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested suspended sentences for the defendants involved in the doping scheme of the now-defunct W52-FC Porto, on the condition that they compensate the Portuguese Cycling Federation (FPC), asserting that “all facts and crimes” mentioned in the indictment were proven.
On April 24, 2022, during the O Jogo Grand Prix, the Judicial Police conducted numerous searches across various regions of the country. The operation, involving around 120 personnel, primarily targeted the residences of cyclists and officials of the W52-FC Porto.
Throughout the ‘Prova Limpa’ operation, hundreds of syringes and needles of various types, blood transfusion equipment, used blood-stained bags, and doping substances such as betamethasone, somatropin, menotropin, TB 500, insulin, and Aicar, among others, were seized.
A total of 26 defendants face charges for trafficking prohibited substances and methods, with 14 specifically accused of administering such substances and methods.
The defendants include Adriano Teixeira de Sousa, also known as Adriano Quintanilha, the Calvário Várzea Club, which was responsible for the team’s origin, former sports director Nuno Ribeiro and his deputy José Rodrigues.
In the final arguments of a trial that began in February 2024, the prosecutor attributed varying degrees of responsibility to the defendants, identifying Quintanilha, Ribeiro, and the team’s accountant Hugo Veloso as “the primary architects and leaders” of the doping scheme within the W52-FC Porto.
During the trial, opposing and contradictory narratives emerged from the former sports director and the team’s owner. Ribeiro acknowledged the presence of doping, alleging it was financed and encouraged by Adriano Quintanilha, whom he described as a manipulative mastermind fixated on winning at any cost.
The 2003 Volta a Portugal winner claimed that Quintanilha financed the doping, providing money to the cyclists to purchase illicit products, a charge Quintanilha denied.
The prosecutor acknowledged the complexity of determining appropriate penalties for the defendants, which include pharmacists who ‘supplied’ the doping substances. Despite the gravity of the crimes, the prosecutor argued that the defendants, being first-time offenders, “should not serve effective prison time.”
Former W52-FC Porto cyclists João Rodrigues, Rui Vinhas, Ricardo Mestre, Samuel Caldeira, Daniel Mestre, José Neves, Ricardo Vilela, Joni Brandão, José Gonçalves, and Jorge Magalhães are on trial for trafficking prohibited substances and methods, along with Daniel Freitas, who was part of the team from 2016 to 2018.
The W52-FC Porto was formerly the leading team in the national cycling circuit, securing continuous victories in the Volta a Portugal from 2016 to 2021. However, the 2017 and 2018 editions, won by Raúl Alarcón, and the 2021 race, in which Amaro Antunes triumphed, later had their victories annulled due to doping suspensions resulting from anomalies detected in the biological passports of the two former cyclists.
