It is official; the Brazilian Pro-Continental team, Soul Brasil Pro Cycling, is banned for the second time only this year. This team won’t be able to compete in any cycling event for more than a month (35 days).
The International Cycling Union took this measure due to the fact Soul Brazil Pro cycling team resulted positive in multiple doping offenses. According to UCI, the team cannot compete in any international competition starting from July 15 to 19th of August.
UCI statement on the UCI Professional Continental Team Soul Brasil Pro Cycling https://t.co/MEu5eNqXYm pic.twitter.com/lzDVzWFTMN
— UCI_media (@UCI_media) May 24, 2017
In December, 2016, Soul Brasil Pro cycling got another suspension for 55 days! This made their 2017 season to start three months later, in March.
According to a statement given by the International Cycling Union, it was the Commission which based its final decision and the length of the suspension mostly because the above ADRVs predated the first team suspension.
Official statement
The statement said: “This team suspension is based on the ADRV [anti-doping rule violation] committed by the rider Alex Correia Diniz based on abnormalities detected in his Biological Passport in 2015 and the ADRV for Tampering of a sample perpetrated by Octavio Bulgarelli on 10 March 2016. For the duration of its suspension, the Team Soul Brasil Pro Cycling cannot participate in any international event.”
The UCI regulations indicate that they can suspend a whole team easily. This happens in cases when at least two of its riders have resulted in taking forbidden drugs in less than a year. According to the UCI the 35-day ban could have been even longer. But, since the doping violations happened before the first sanction, the final decision included only 35 days.
