Tour de France: Bahrain Victorious riders and staff searched days before race
- Published
Bahrain Victorious have been competing on the World Tour since 2017
Riders and staff of Bahrain Victorious have had their homes searched by French police just days before the Tour de France.
The team said in a statement they will "co-operate in all procedures".
But they added "the timing of this investigation is aimed at intentionally damaging the team's reputation".
They had hotel rooms searched following doping allegations during last year's Tour, which they deny.
The statement added: "The investigation into the members of the team, which started almost a year ago and did not yield any results, continues just before the start of the most important cycling race, the Tour de France."
The team did not say which riders or staff members had been searched.
According to the statement, the searches were carried out by the prosecutor's office in Marseille.
They carried out last year's searches after the possible "acquisition, transport, possession, import of a prohibited substance or prohibited method for use by an athlete without medical justification".
The team took its highest race win tally last year of 30, and so far in 2022 took wins at the one-day 'Monument' Milan-San Remo through Matej Mohoric, and a stage in May's Giro d'Italia through Santiago Buitrago.
In February, last year's Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli collapsed after a sprint on stage one of the Volta a Catalunya.
He suffered an "unstable cardiac arrhythmia that required defibrillation".
Colbrelli is under going treatment in Italy and hopes to return to competition.