Venceslau Fernandes and Rafael Silva were suspended by the Portuguese Anti-Doping Authority (ADoP), following anomalies detected in their biological passport.
According to the list of disciplinary sanctions updated this Wednesday by ADoP, Venceslau Fernandes’ suspension, for six years, began on November 28, 2025 and lasts until November 6, 2030. The authority clarifies that the preventive suspension time already served, which began on November 7, 2024, will be deducted.
Winner of the Volta a Portugal do Futuro in 2018, the 29-year-old cyclist started his career at Liberty Seguros-Carglass, worked at Oliveirense and Feirense and, at the time of his suspension, represented AP Hotels&Resorts-Tavira-Farense.
Rafael Silva, who ended his career on January 28, 2024, was suspended for four years, with the punishment in force until February 4, 2028. The 35-year-old former cyclist had been preventively suspended since February 5, 2024, with this period also being deducted from the final sanction.
Winner of the Portuguese Cup in 2023, Silva announced the end of his career after being notified by ADoP. Despite claiming to be aware of his “absolute innocence”, the winner of the 2012 Volta a Portugal do Futuro chose not to “attack the decision” of the authority, either because of his age or in order not to harm the team he represented at the time, Efapel.
Throughout his career, which began in 2013 at LA Alumínios-Antarte, Rafael Silva spent most of his career at Efapel (formerly Glassdrive, currently Anicolor). On his resume, he also has victories in stages of the Grande Prémio Jornal Notícias, the GP O Jogo and the Volta a Albergaria, in 2019, among other achievements.
In the published list of sanctions, ADoP does not specify the years in which the anomalies in the biological passports of the two cyclists were detected. Even so, when announcing the end of his career, Rafael Silva said that his suspension was based on “a sample/analysis collected in 2015”.
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