Pello Bilbao defends that Bahrain Victorious is being persecuted for good results
The searches carried out at the Bahrain Victorious hotel on Wednesday were “a surrealistic film”, described cyclist Pello Bilbao, ninth-placed in the Tour de France, who believes the team is being “persecuted” for the good results.
“It was a surrealist film. I opened my suitcase, allowed them to see everything they wanted, and finally they left me to my work, massage and dinner. After such a hard stage, the last thing you want is that they waste your time,” said the Spaniard.
Pello Bilbao, who was 13th in the last Tour d’Italia, linked the searches with the good results that Bahrain Victorious has had in recent months and argued that there is “something persecutory” against his team.
“People can’t believe our results. It’s sad,” lamented the Tour’s ninth-placed overall, for whom suspicion about his line-up is “a legacy of previous years.”
Bilbao noted that the path to “cleaning the image of cycling and sport” is being made, but that it is necessary to “let time pass”.
“Time will cure everything. We can only continue to do what we do with the greatest transparency. There is no other solution but to go through all of this – checks at 7:00 am, searches, zero intimacy – what we want is to demonstrate that we are running clean and it’s a shame that all the work we’ve done and the victories we’ve achieved are in doubt,” he declared.
The hotel and the coach of the Bahrain Victorious team were searched by the police on Wednesday night in Pau, after the 17th stage of the Tour de France, the Marseille prosecutor’s office confirmed today.
The preliminary investigation, which began on July 3, focuses on suspicions of “acquisition, transport, possession, import of a prohibited substance or method for use by a sportsman without medical justification”, informed the Marseille prosecutor’s office, indicating that the raid was carried out by agents of the Central Agency for the Fight against Attacks on the Environment and Public Health (Oclaesp, in its French acronym).
“The preliminary investigation is carried out with the purpose of determining the existence or not of the infractions that justified its opening”, the entity also clarified.
Bahrain Victorious also confirmed the search, although it guarantees that it was not informed of the reasons for the search.
“The investigation included a search of the cyclists’ quarters. Although we were not aware of the fundamentals of the investigation, the team was also asked to provide training data, which was compiled and presented to officers as requested,” the statement reads. on the official training website.
Bahrain Victorious is team leader and had, as of today’s departure, the Dutchman Wout Poels in charge of the Tour mountain classification, lost to the winner of the 18th stage, the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates).
In this edition of the Tour de France, Bahrain’s formation has been in evidence: in addition to the classification they lead, they won the seventh stage with Slovenian Matej Mohoric and the eighth with Belgian Dylan Teuns, and the Italian champion, Sonny Colbrelli, has another great highlight, with the “sprinter” being third in the mountain stage reaching the top of Tignes (9th) and being one of the most active in the trails.
In the Tour de Italia, a race in which the Italian Damiano Caruso was second, Bahrain Victorious had faced suspicions of doping.
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