Scandals plague Portuguese cycling teams: "People who asked for day off were humiliated and poorly treated"

Portuguese cycling has been plagued by scandals for years, despite the presence of talented riders like Rui Costa, the Oliveira brothers (Ivo and Rui) and João Almeida. Yet, Portuguese cycling teams are often associated with serious misconduct. CyclingUpToDate conducted an investigation into Portuguese professional teams and spoke with sources who revealed some shocking details.

According to the news site, recent reports uncover a pattern of mismanagement and abuse within professional cycling teams in Portugal. An anonymous source recounted his short but intense time working with one team: "I realized early on that I wouldn't have a timetable, but that wasn't a problem for me," he began. But the reality was different: he worked overtime, "sometimes including unpaid work from morning to night, at weekends and during vacation periods." All this for minimum wage or close to it, so the CyclingUpToDate article states.

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Raúl Alarcón won the Tour of Portugal in 2017 and 2018; he was suspended for four years in 2019

Called up in the middle of the night 

In addition, he had to pay fines for traffic violations incurred during work hours out of his own pocket, often under the instruction of the team president. "My days sometimes lasted 12 hours and the next day I was treated as if I'd left early. The website reports that "out of necessity" he was responsible for transporting the club president to his appointments, and that "sometimes he demanded that I drive at excessive speeds and at the same time demanded that I send messages and make phone calls while driving." The working conditions were so poor that he noted that multiple employees couldn’t last even a full day in his role.

Contractual obligations were also routinely ignored. One source mentioned a sponsor that provided free equipment in exchange for visibility on team clothing, buses and cars, which was not honored. Employees were often put under unreasonable pressure. One person described being given a mobile phone to always be reachable. His manager would even call in the middle of the night to check if he had the phone on him. "There were people working day and night who, when they asked for a day or two off, were harassed, humiliated and mistreated."

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The best Portuguese cyclist at the moment: Almeida

Building a palace without the right tools

In addition to complaints about working conditions and mismanagement, there are also reports of structural delays in salary payments. Top riders in the Portuguese peloton are said to be owed tens of thousands of euros. At the same time, suppliers reported waiting for months to receive payments.

Another source pointed to a broader cause of the problems: mistrust from sponsors. "They justify the lack of sponsorship by the growing distrust of national companies in the face of the dishonesty of people who continually fail to make payments and other contractual responsibilities." This mistrust threatens the future of Portuguese cycling and may stand in the way of the next Almeida.

One source’s quote perfectly sums up the situation: "Basically, it felt like they wanted me to build a palace without giving me the tools."

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