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I know Tour de France organisers ASO are always looking for ways to pay homage to the race’s history and heritage, but this seems an odd way of going about it…
The dawn police raid – a much-loved staple of the Tours of the late 1990s and 2000s – appears to be back in vogue this year, before a pedal has even been turned in anger.
Team Bahrain Victorious have confirmed that their Copenhagen hotel was searched at 5.30am this morning by Danish Police at the request of French prosecutors.
This latest raid follows a visit from police officers to several Bahrain Victorious riders and staff at their homes on Monday, which the team described as “intentionally damaging” their reputation before the biggest race of the year.
Bahrain Victorious’ Tour lineup includes Milan-San Remo winner (and dropper post salesman) Matej Mohorič, British classics rider Fred Wright, Dylan Teuns and Jack Haig, as well as Damiano Caruso – who served a backdated doping suspension in 2011 – and Luis León Sánchez, sacked by Belkin (now Jumbo-Visma) in 2013 over his links to the Operación Puerto doping case.
This week’s police searches form part of an ongoing investigation into doping allegations at Bahrain Victorious, which was opened during last year’s Tour de France and resulted in a raid at the team’s hotel in Pau (a classic of the genre) after stage 17.
Marseille’s prosecutor’s office said at the time that it was looking into the possible “acquisition, transportation, possession and importing of a prohibited substance or method for use by an athlete without justification by members of Team Bahrain Victorious.”
Nobody was placed under formal investigation following the night-time raid involving around 50 officers, although team boss Milan Eržen confirmed riders’ training files had been taken.
Two days later, the team’s Slovenian superstar Mohorič took his second win of the race into Libourne and celebrated by pulling an imaginary zip across his lips, a response which sparked some unfavourable comparisons with a certain Texan and could charitably be described as naïve, at best.
Possessing, selling or using doping products are all criminal offences in France, but nobody was arrested during the initial investigation last year and since the fallout over Mohorič’s controversial celebration, it largely slipped out of the spotlight until Monday’s raids.
In a statement released this morning, Bahrain Victorious confirmed that police officers had searched all team vehicles, staff and riders’ rooms, and that the team had “fully cooperated with all the officers’ requests”.
No items, the team says, were seized during the two-hour long search.
“Following the police search, the team is now looking forward to focusing on the world’s biggest and best cycling race, Tour de France,” the statement reads.
“The team will make no further comment on the subject.”
Maybe Matej will need to buy some more zippers for the next three weeks…
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