In the session on November 18, the accused stated that there was doping throughout the year in the cycling team, financed and encouraged by the boss Adriano Quintanilha, “master of manipulation, who wanted to win at all costs”.
The former sporting director of W52-FC Porto Nuno Ribeiro said today in court that “all” the team’s cyclists “were doping”, adding that the former president of FC Porto Pinto da Costa was unaware of the doping scheme.
Nuno Ribeiro, who spoke 10 days ago for the first time at the ‘Prova Limpa’ operation trial, with 26 defendants, including former cyclists, and which takes place in a pavilion attached to the Paços de Ferreira Prison Establishment, continues today to give statements.
In the session on November 18, the accused stated that there was doping throughout the year in the cycling team, financed and encouraged by the boss Adriano Quintanilha, “master of manipulation, who wanted to win at all costs”.
The former sporting director, who, at his request, speaks in the absence of the other defendants, alleging pressure and threats, confirmed this morning that “all [the team’s cyclists] were doping”, as only then would they be able to win, a situation that was known to “the entire” structure of the cycling team, including the managers.
Nuno Ribeiro said that Pinto da Costa accompanied the team in some races, especially in the most important ones, such as the Volta a Portugal, stating that the former president of FC Porto “didn’t know about the doping scheme” that existed within the team.
The winner of the 2003 Tour of Portugal reiterated that it was the defendant Adriano Teixeira de Sousa, known as Adriano Quintanilha and head of the team, who financed doping in the team, giving money to cyclists to purchase illicit products.
Nuno Ribeiro said that the athletes trusted him and that they talked to him about doping, namely whether they should take a certain product or another, and that he limited himself to giving his opinion, once again denying that he had instigated the ingestion of these substances by cyclists.
Given the answer, Adriano Quintanilha’s lawyer asked the defendant if he had medical training, to which Nuno Ribeiro responded negatively.
The accused revealed that, as sports director, he earned 2.5 thousand euros per month, highlighting that he “never” transported envelopes with money delivered by Adriano Quintanilha, which happened, for example, with cyclists.
Ribeiro revealed in the November 18 session that Quintanilha had already approached him three times to “take all the blame”, in exchange for 2 thousand euros per month for two years, which he never accepted, adding that he left the last meeting “full of fear”, as Quintanilha “threatened, insulted and humiliated everyone”.
Today, the lawyer for the former team leader asked the accused why he agreed to meet a second time with his constituent, in a hotel, as he felt scared and threatened, after the first meeting, which took place in a storage .
“[because Adriano Quintanilha] Came to talk calmly”, replied Nuno Ribeiro.
The trial continues in the afternoon with the end of the former sporting director’s statements.
The president of the panel of judges asked for the presence of the other defendants in the afternoon, so that the court could tell them what Nuno Ribeiro said at trial.
The 26 defendants are charged with trafficking in prohibited substances and methods, but only 14 are responsible for administering a prohibited substance and methods.
Among these are Adriano Teixeira de Sousa, Adriano Quintanilha, Associação Calvário Várzea Clube De Ciclismo – the club at the origin of the team -, the then sporting director Nuno Ribeiro and his ‘deputy’ José Rodrigues.
João Rodrigues, Rui Vinhas, Ricardo Mestre, Samuel Caldeira, Daniel Mestre, José Neves, Ricardo Vilela, Joni Brandão, José Gonçalves and Jorge Magalhães are the former W52-FC Porto cyclists tried for trafficking in prohibited substances and methods, as well as Daniel Freitas, who defended the team from 2016 to 2018.
