A Portuguese rider has been banned from pro cycling for four years by the UCI after unexplained abnormalities were found in his biological passport.
António Carvalho Ferreira, 36, was provisionally suspended in November following the discovery of the abnormalities, and on Wednesday it was revealed that he had been handed a lengthy ban.
The abnormalities occurred in 2018, when he raced for W52/FC Porto, and 2023 and 2024, when he raced for ABTF Betão-Feirense, with the latter being the team he raced for this season, when it was called Feirense-Beeceler.
A UCI spokesperson said: “The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that the Portuguese rider António Carvalho Ferreira has been sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation for use of a prohibited substance and/or a prohibited method due to unexplained abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport in 2018, 2023 and 2024.
