Tour de France team Bahrain Victorious deny wrongdoing after police raid on hotel
The team insisted they are ‘committed to the highest level of professionalism and adherence to all regulatory requirements’
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Your support makes all the difference.Police raided the hotel of Tour de France team Bahrain Victorious in Pau on Wednesday night.
At around 2am, dozens of police officers stormed the riders’ rooms, searched the team bus and demanded they hand over training files. No arrests were made and the official reasons for and findings of the investigation have not yet been disclosed.
In a statement ahead of Thursday’s stage 18, the team’s technical director Vladimir Miholjevic said: “Following stage 17, we were greeted by several French police officers. We were not given a warrant to read through, but the team complied with all the officers’ requests.
FOLLOW LIVE: Latest updates from stage 18 of the Tour de France
“We are committed to the highest level of professionalism and adherence to all regulatory requirements and will always be cooperating in a professional manner. The process had impacted our riders recovery and meal planning and as a professional team, the well-being of our team is a key priority.”
The team were forced to reject allegations of doping last month after anonymous accusations in the French media.
Bahrain Victorious have enjoyed an impressive year of results. Damiano Caruso pulled of a surprise podium finish at the Giro d’Italia before they picked up three stage wins at the Criterium du Dauphine.
They have been something of a revelation at this year’s Tour, too. They lead the team standings after 17 of the 21 stages, lead the King of the Mountains classification through Dutch rider Wout Poels and won back-to-back stages on 7 and 8, thanks to riders Matej Mohoric and Dylan Teuns.
Bahrain Victorious insisted they have done nothing wrong and will continue to ride the rest of the race.
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