Efapel’s sporting director, Jose Azevedo, confirmed to JN that there was a search of cyclist Francisco Campos’ residence and that he was an indictment, prompting the team to suspend the athlete and prepare the process for terminating the contract with the athlete.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for anything that may be related to doping. As soon as we learned that the athlete is suspected of prohibited practice, we decided to suspend him from all team-related activities, and his contract will, in the future, be terminated”, announced Jose Azevedo.
The Efapel chief confirmed that the team’s facilities based in Villa de Conde had not been the subject of any research by the authorities, which JN can confirm, as he was on site this Tuesday morning – stressing that the team “complies with all ethical rules imposed by the UCI”. “.
Jose Azevedo emphasized: “We have a very strict internal code of conduct when it comes to doping. Any non-compliance by athletes with it has an immediate reaction, without any tolerance. That was exactly what happened in this case.”
The sporting director confirmed that Francisco Campos was scheduled to participate in the Portuguese Volta Championships, but given his immediate suspension, he will be replaced by teammate Francisco Guerrero.
‘We can’t have the athlete’
Jose Santos, sporting director of Rádio Popular-Paredes Boavista, also confirmed to JN that one of his cyclists had been searched at his home by authorities, and that due to suspicion, the team decided to suspend the player immediately.
As far as JN has learned, Daniel Freitas, who will no longer represent chess players at Volta Portugal.
“Once we gathered the information about what had happened, we had no choice but to suspend the cyclist and replace him from our options in Volta a Portugal. Athletes know that we at Rádio Popular-Paredes-Boavista condemn anything and do not tolerate it a prohibited practice. Everyone has the right to the presumption of innocence, But until the situation is fully clarified, we cannot have the athlete among us,” stressed Jose Santos.
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