The French authority conducting the anti doping inquiry into the Bahrain Victorious team has said it seized items during searches carried out this week, ahead of the Tour de France start in Denmark tomorrow.
The statement appears to contradict the team's assertion on Thursday that no items were seized. However, there has been no mention by the prosecutors office of any doping products being found. And while Bahrain Victorious said on Thursday no items were seized during the police searches in Copenhagen earlier in the day, it did not make that same claim in a lengthy statement after Monday's searches.
The Marseille public prosecutor's office on Thursday evening said various items were seized during the international searches carried out at its request - today in Copenhagen and on Monday in Italy, Spain, Belgium and Poland, Slovenia and Croatia.
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During the first wave of searches this week, which were coordinated and timed before the riders and staff left their home nations for the Tour, the homes of some riders and staff were searched. And in Copenhagen on Monday the team's hotel was searched.
The Marseille public prosecutor's office said "electronic equipment - telephones, computers, hard drivers - and medicines whose nature and origin remain undetermined or whose prescription remains subject to prescription" were taken for analysis, according to Le Parisien.
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The homes of a manager, three riders, a team osteopath and a team doctor were searched, the Marseillie office said. “All of these seizures will be the subject of subsequent analysis and exploitation,” it added.
After the searches earlier this week, Bahrain Victorious said it had nothing to hide and remained focused on the Tour. It also bemoaned the fact the investigation - which began with raids on the team hotel in Pau at last year's Tour before stage 18 - had yielded nothing yet was continuing. It added no information had been shared with the team about progress in the inquiry.
In a second, much shorter statement today, the team confirmed the Danish police, acting at the behest of the French authorities, "searched all team vehicles, staff and riders’ rooms" at about 5.30am.
"The team fully cooperated with all the officers’ requests, and the search was completed within two hours. No items were seized from the team. Following the police search, the team is now looking forward to focusing on the world’s biggest and best cycling race, Tour de France."
Bahrain Victorious added it would not be making any further comment on the searches. A press conference in Copenhagen on Thursday, on the eve of the race, lasted just eight minutes after the team said it would take only sporting questions.
