‘No more questions’ - Bahrain Victorious shut down pre-Tour de France press conference

Bahrain Victorious refused to answer any questions either about the latest in a series of raids on the team's accommodation or the Tour de France itself in what was one of the shortest pre-Tour de France press conferences in recent memory.

After a tense eight minutes in which the team read a statement, insisted all questions must relate to racing and then declined to answer even those the whole event was abruptly over.

The state-backed team's hotel in Copenhagen was searched by Danish Police this morning at 5:30am, the day before the race gets underway. That followed on from some riders, including Damiano Caruso, and Bahrain Victorious staff having their homes searched prior to arriving in Denmark and a raid on the team's hotel at the 2021 Tour de France.

In the early afternoon, team leaders Jack Haig and Matej Mohoric and performance director Vladimir Miholjević assembled before the world's press. A brief statement on the events of the morning was read out before the floor opened to questions.

One journalist in the room asked: "If we can't talk about the investigation then can I ask this. Could you tell me what the impact will be on having officers in your hotel at 5:30am in the morning?"

There was a pause as Haig and Mohoric stared blankly at the camera broadcasting to a virtual audience. Miholjević said: "As we said we will only be taking racing questions."

A selection of hands shot up. Journalists logging in remotely typed their questions to the riders in the video call's chat facility.

Some were about the raid, others were not. Cycling Weekly attempted to ask Jack Haig how he thought he could beat Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar.

But within seconds Miholjević spoke again: "No more questions."

If that eight minutes was indicative then over the next three weeks Bahrain Victorious may spend almost as much energy trying to outrun questions about the events of this morning as they will beating the other 21 teams on the start-line.