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9 March 2026
The UCI Disciplinary Commission has decided to suspend the Portuguese UCI Continental Team Feirense Beeceler for a period of 22 days, starting on 22 March 2026 and effective until 12 April 2026, in accordance with article 11.3 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules (UCI ADR) (Team Suspension).
The UCI ADR provide for the suspension of a team when two or more of its riders or staff receive notice of certain types of asserted anti-doping rule violation (ADRVs) which occurred during the same 12-month period. Three riders from UCI Continental Team Feirense Beeceler have been charged with asserted ADRVs based on the abnormalities detected in their respective Athlete Biological Passport (ABP)¹, more precisely for Adverse Passport Findings (APF).²
The Team Suspension is based on the following cases:³
On 7 November 2024, the Portuguese rider Venceslau Fernandes was notified by the National Anti-Doping Agency of Portugal (ADoP) of an asserted ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP, coinciding inter alia with July 2022. The rider was recently sanctioned by ADoP with a six-year period of ineligibility from 7 November 2024 until 6 November 2030 for his ADRV.
Then, on 18 September 2025, the U.S. rider Barry Frederik Miller was notified by ADoP of an asserted ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP in February 2023. Since the results management procedure is still ongoing with ADoP, the ITA will not comment further on this matter.
Lastly, on 4 November 2025, the Portuguese rider Antonio Carvalho Ferreira was notified by the UCI of an ADRV, due to unexplained abnormalities in his ABP also in February 2023. Mr. Carvalho Ferreira has been sanctioned by the UCI with a four-year period of ineligibility from 4 November 2025 until 3 November 2029 for his ADRV. The suspension is final.
The UCI Disciplinary Commission’s decision may be challenged before the appeals division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by the Team or the UCI in accordance with Article 11.3.2 of the UCI anti-doping rules.
The ITA will not comment further on this matter.
Following the delegation of results management to the ITA within the framework of the independent anti-doping program it leads on behalf of the UCI, the ITA will henceforth communicate on decisions rendered by the UCI Disciplinary Commission and the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal in cases falling within the scope of this program.
¹ The Athlete Biological Passport is an individual electronic profile that monitors selected biological variables of an athlete. It contains the results of the athletes’ urine and blood samples, which are tracked consistently. Any significant variation from normal levels can be assessed for possible manipulation. At the ITA, ABP management is performed by a specialist unit of experts who liaise with the Athlete Passport Management Units (APMUs) and ABP Expert Panels in order to issue further targeted testing or in case of adverse or atypical passport findings.
² An Adverse Passport Finding is reported when three experts unanimously reach the conclusion that it is highly likely that the values of an athlete’s biological passport are a result of the use of a prohibited substance or method and that there is no reasonably conceivable hypothesis under which the ABP values are the result of a normal physiological condition and highly unlikely that it is the result of a pathological condition. In the context of Team Suspension, the relevant dates to determine if the commission of the ADRVs occurred within the same twelve-month period is the period of time during which the riders used a prohibited method or a prohibited substance according to the expert panel’s evaluation of the respective ABP.
³ Considering that the UCI delegated the results management of ADRVs and other legal anti-doping matters to the ITA in early February 2026, the proceedings before the UCI Disciplinary Commission were handled by the UCI and the individual ADRVs were either processed by the UCI or the National Anti-Doping Agency of Portugal.
