A Portuguese rider has been banned from pro cycling for four years by the UCI after unexplained abnormalities were found in his biological passport.<\/p>\n
Ant\u00f3nio 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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The abnormalities occurred in 2018, when he raced for W52\/FC Porto, and 2023 and 2024, when he raced for ABTF Bet\u00e3o-Feirense, with the latter being the team he raced for this season, when it was called Feirense-Beeceler.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n A UCI spokesperson said: “The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that the Portuguese rider Ant\u00f3nio 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.<\/p>\n “In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (UCI ADR), the period of ineligibility started on 4 November 2025 and is effective until 3 November 2029.<\/p>\n “The case has been resolved by way of an acceptance of consequences as provided for by the Code and the UCI ADR.<\/p>\n “The UCI will not comment any further.”<\/p>\n Carvalho Ferreira is not alone in being provisionally suspended over biological passport abnormalities this year. At the end of October, former Spanish champion Oier Lazkano suffered the same fate<\/a> over abnormalities relating to his time at Movistar, and left\u00a0Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe<\/a>\u00a0as a result. In September, Italian rider Giovanni Carboni, then riding for Unibet Tietema Rockets, was provisionally for abnormalities during his time at JCL Team UKYO; he has now been dismissed by his current employers.<\/p>\n There has not yet been a decision on this pair. When the news emerged around Lazkano, he said: “I have never used doping substances or prohibited methods. I am a clean athlete and a person of integrity.”<\/p>\n In August, former French cyclist Franck Bonnamour was also handed a four-year ban<\/a> for biological passport issues.<\/p>\n