The 83rd Volta a Portugal kicks off in Lisbon on Thursday afternoon.

The years of scandal at the World Tour level of racing are long gone, save for the Bahrain Victorias attack, and are a different world in the relatively isolated Portuguese racing scene.

Riders from Portugal's top three teams, including Luis Mendonça (Glassdrive-Q8-Anicolor), Joao Benta, Francisco Campos (Efapel), and Daniel Freitas (Radio Popular-Paredes-Boavista) were raided by the police.

The raids and suspensions all occurred as a result of Operationção Prova Limpa (Operation Clean Race), a lengthy police investigation led by the Porto prosecutor's office, which resulted in the suspension of Porto's top team, W52-FC Porto, by the UCI.

Antonio Julio Nunes, director of Portugal's anti-doping agency (ADOP), is living under police surveillance (opens in new tab) after receiving numerous threats, including a shotgun cartridge, amid raids and suspensions.

The latest raids on Tuesday and Wednesday targeted riders from Glassdrive, Efapel, and Radio Popular; Campos, a member of the W52 from 2019 to 2021, protested that nothing was found in the raids, but then team terminated his contract (open in new tab); Freitas, a member of the W52 from 2016 to 2018, has been suspended from internal activities.

Meanwhile, Mendonça and Benta were late on Wednesday's Volta start list. Glassdrive stated that the former withdrew to "maintain focus" on the race and "protect the image" of the team (open in new tab). Benta, on the other hand, protested in a social networking post that he has "no conscience" and is leaving even though nothing was found at his home.

Despite the controversy, all three teams start the Volta with seven full members.

However, one team that will be noticeably absent from the race is W52-FC Porto, a team that has dominated the Volta for over a decade. They have won eight of the last nine with Alejandro Marquet, Gustavo Cesar Veloso (twice), Rui Viñas, and Amaro Antunes (three times, including an inherited victory from ousted teammate Raul Alarcon, who was retroactively stripped of the 2018 and 2019 titles) The team has won the championship eight of the last nine times.

The team was the main target of Prova Limpa, an operation launched in 2021 following an anonymous police report. They are currently banned by the UCI under UCI Anti-Doping Rule 10.2, "Presence, use, attempt or possession of prohibited substances or methods."

"The Portuguese Cycling Federation has been informed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) today that, following the information received by the UCI about the process taking place at the Portuguese Anti-Doping Agency, the Federation has withdrawn the sports license of the Continental Team W52-FC Porto The UCI confirmed that it has been informed of the decision to withdraw the sporting license of the Continental Team W52-FC Porto. This decision is effective immediately and the team will not be able to compete again," a statement issued by the Portuguese Cycling Federation on July 27 reads.

Three months earlier, the W52 was raided by police and doping products, including syringes, pills, and blood transfusion equipment, were found.

Captain Nuno Ribeiro (whose racing history includes a failed hematocrit test at the 2005 Giro d'Italia and being stripped of the Volta championship in 2009 due to a positive CERA) and Soinier were arrested, and 10 of the team's riders were indicted.

Then, in mid-July, ADOP suspended eight riders and two staff members, plus the team's former rider, Edgar Pinto, received a four-year doping ban from the UCI.

On the same day, W52's José Neves won a stage of the Grande Premio Douro Internacional, a non-UCI race, and celebrated with a "shush" gesture.

Despite having only three riders, the team was scheduled to compete in the Volta until its suspension by the UCI eight days earlier.

With four riders, the country's most successful team, and champion Amaro Antunes out of the race, the Volta a Portugal will take place, despite the scandal that has always dominated the headlines.

The 11-day race starts with a 5.4 km prologue on Thursday.