4-year ban in cycling’s latest biological passport doping case

The UCI confirmed a racing ban in the latest doping case involving the athlete’s biological passport program.

Portuguese rider António Carvalho Ferreira is sidelined for four years after anti-doping authorities identified unexplained abnormalities in his biological profile across multiple seasons, the UCI confirmed Wednesday.

The UCI said Ferreira committed an “anti-doping rule violation involving the use of a prohibited substance and/or method,” based on abnormal biological markers recorded in 2018, 2023 and 2024, the UCI said.

Ferreira’s period of ineligibility will run until November 3, 2029. Ferreira — who received a provisional ban last month — did not challenge the allegations.

Ferreira’s sanction adds to a growing list of biological passport cases initiated in recent months.

The biological passport, introduced more than a decade ago to track long-term variations in an athlete’s blood and steroid profiles, is one of cycling’s most controversial enforcement tools.

It allows authorities to pursue cases without a positive drug test when data suggests anomalies in biological markers. It was most often used to deploy target testing against suspicious riders.

It’s recently seen a revival as an enforcement tool, however, following a string of high-profile cases, including WorldTour rider Oier Lazkano, who was released by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for questions about the period before he joined the team.

Last week, Unibet Rose Rockets fired a rider in similar circumstances, whose case also pre-dated joining the team.

As Velo reported last month, sources say many teams are no longer reviewing passport data and medical records as rigorously as they once did during recruitment, apparently leaning more on oversight by the UCI and ITA.