Daily Times

PAU: French police searched the hotel rooms and team bus of the Bahrain Victorious cycling team taking part at the Tour de France in an anti-doping raid that went on for several hours overnight. The raid took place late Wednesday and carried on until around 2a.m., sources close to the dossier said in Pau on Thursday. Bahrain Victorious has won two stages on the 2021 edition: Slovenian rider Matej Mohoric claimed stage seven and Dylan Teuns triumphed on stage eight. The team’s climb specialist, Wout Poels of the Netherlands, wore a grim smile as he lined up on the front row of stage 18 on Thursday wearing the polka dot king-of-the-mountains jersey. The team’s press officer said his team had complied with all that was requested of them, and that they were now expecting an explanation for the raid. The Movistar team were at the same hotel as Bahrain Victorious but no searches were carried out on the Spanish team in the overnight operation in the southern Basque town of Pau, which is a gateway to the Pyrenees and known for its French Top 14 rugby union team. The police unit concerned confirmed the raids and said files on the riders had been confiscated.