Portuguese sports director suspended for 25 years for doping violations

Portuguese sports director Nuno Ribeiro has been handed a 25-year doping suspension for his role in the Prova Limpa, or ‘Clean Test’, scandal as director of the W52-FC Porto team.

Ribeiro, who has been provisionally suspended since 16 December of last year, has now been handed a formal ban that will run from that date through to 15 December 2047.

According to the sanction listed by the Portuguese Anti-Doping Authority (ADOP), Ribeiro received the ban for “trafficking, supply, and possession of prohibited substances and prohibited methods".

The ADOP also lists the substances involved, which include testosterone, corticosteroids, growth hormones, TB 500, vilanterol, and gonadorelin.

A 25-year suspension is the longest possible sanction, according to Portuguese anti-doping laws. Jose Rodriguez, another former member of the W52-FC Porto set-up, was also given a 25-year suspension, while 26 people were investigated in conjunction with the Prova Limpa investigation.

In terms of riders, 10 members of the W52-FC Porto team were suspended, while seven have received long-term doping bans from the ADOP, with suspensions ranging from three to seven years.

Those riders include three former Vuelta a Portugal winners: Ricardo Mestre, Rui Vinhas, and João Rodrigues, who was banned for seven years compared to the other three-year suspensions. The others banned were Daniel Mestre, Ricardo Vilela, Samuel Caldeira and Jośe Neves.

The W52-FC Porto team folded shortly after the scandal broke in the late summer of last year. Furthermore, Ribeiro himself has already served a doping suspension for CERA as a rider, back in 2010.

The cases have yet to reach the Portuguese courts but, with the severity of the doping offence and Portuguese laws against doping, further developments are likely.