COPENHAGEN – Danish police raided the hotel of Team Bahrain-Victorious early today on the eve of the start of the Tour de France in Denmark.
The event led to an excruciating silence at their pre-Tour press conference in the afternoon.
The team announced the raid itself just a few days after similar raids at homes in France, which they described on Monday as “intentionally damaging the team’s reputation”, and a year after their hotel was raided during the 2021 Tour.
“Officers have searched all team vehicles, staff and riders’ rooms,” said Bahrain.
The police reportedly found nothing suspicious in their two-hour search.
“The team is now looking forward to focusing on the greatest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France.”
No charges have been brought against the team following the search and confiscation of materials during the 2021 Tour.
The team refused point blank to answer questions concerning suspected doping as they held a highly uncomfortable pre-Tour press conference.
Slovenian Matej Mohoric and the Australian Jack Haig both refused questions on the issue when faced by a bevvy of reporters.
No other questions were forthcoming in the event scheduled to last 30 minutes and the conference was closed in record time.
Bahrain-Victorious performance director Vladimir Miholjevic then made a parting statement.
“The team are totally concentrated on the race and the riders will only answer questions about this,” he said. – AFP, June 30, 2022
