W52 - FC Porto abandon plans of returning to pro cycling in 2023

W52 - FC Porto have been in the spotlight over the summer and fall, however for reasons no team would want to face. Having been taken away their UCI license due to a widespread doping scandal, the team looked to recreate the project into 2023, but that will no longer be happening.

According to O Jogo, a letter from the team sent to the president of the Portuguese Cycling Federation read: "Adriano Teixeira de Sousa, as President of the Board of the Calvário Várzea Clube de Ciclismo Association following the pending processes that are pending in the competent authorities, whose decision time is not possible to determine and preventing the best benefit of the cycling, I hereby request Your Excellency that the intention of constituting the continental professional team W52-FC PORTO 2023 is not pursued."

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Just weeks before the Volta a Portugal, the country's most important event of the year, the team had suffered a nation-wide police raid, which, in which "various substances and clinical instruments were seized, used in the training of athletes and with an impact on their sporting performance," the police report said.

A total of 7 riders were suspended, including former Volta a Portugal winners João Rodrigues and Rui Vinhas, and featuring climber José Neves who had risen to be one of the peloton's best climbers in recent years. The team's UCI license was removed, but the association looked to build the team once again into 2023, even if with different standards and new goals. The intention to continue the project has ended.

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