Focus on the 2024 Giro starters
The first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d'Italia, has only half of its starting teams signed up to the MPCC. The number of individual members remains relatively stable.
The 107th Giro d'Italia took off from Piemonte on Saturday with just 11 of the 22 starting teams members of the MPCC. Three of the four Pro Teams who have been awarded a wild card are members of our association : Israel-Premier Tech, Tudor Pro Cycling Team and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè. The Italian outfit, taking part in its fifteenth consecutive Giro, joined us seven years ago and Tudor Pro Cycling Team was one of the last teams to commit to credible cycling, almost a year ago.
On an individual scale, the Giro peloton features 53 MPCC members from 18 different teams. These figures confirm a certain stability in the pack at each start of the Grand Tours over the last two years or so (between 50 and 55 riders). On the other hand, the number of teams represented shows that riders can commit to the MPCC on their own beliefs.
We therefore encourage the MPCC riders to persuade their teammates and employers to join our movement, while emphasising that the membership is based on volunteering.
The MPCC would also like to point out that only one of the 176 starters of this Giro d'Italia has been suspended in the past. Two other riders have been disqualified from races but have not been suspended for more than six months for an anti-doping rule violation.
Commit to MPCC, join us ! Be players in the fight against doping !
Credibility figures : A mixed start to the year
After the first quarter, the MPCC noted six doping or fraud cases revealed in professionnal cycling and stays careful regarding the global situation in the fight against doping and cheating, in all sports.
In this Olympic year, top-level sportsmen and women are in the spotlight. Pushed by their national federations and Olympic committees, which they represent ; by their partners, some of whom have been supporting them for many years ; and by their fans, who are eager to see them in action for several weeks of festivities and intense competition. The athletes also take part in the Olympic games in order to represent its values : excellence, respect and friendship. In this context, precaution must be redoubled to ensure that the integrity of performances remains respected.
For several months now, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and the International Testing Agency (ITA) have been stepping up initiatives to maintain a high level of standard in the fight against doping. For example, several national antidoping agencies have been declared non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code (including Tunisia, Venezuela and Nigeria) and a laboratory in charge of some of the tests in South Africa has been provisionally suspended. But this constant monitoring is not always enough.
At the beginning of the year, the fight against doping and cheating took a serious hit after the scandal involving the Spanish antidoping agency (CELAD). Revelations in the press pointed out to retroactive TUEs, an intravenous medical treatment (a method banned by WADA since 2005) and procedural flaws that allowed some athletes to avoid suspensions. This case confirms that the fight for clean sport is a constant battle for its credibility.
Significant increase of figures in India
As of March 31st, athletics and strength sports still topped the Credibility Figures, with 39 cases of doping and/or fraud revealed in athletics, 40 in weightlifting and 27 in powerlifting. However, the weightlifting figures need to be put into perspective, as 16 cases were made public following analysis of the Moscow’s LIMS data (Laboratory Information Management System).
On a national scale, the significant increase of number of suspensions in India is particularly worrying (49) but can be explained by a wave of tests carried out during the National Games held last October and November in Goa. France (10 cases) was also rocked by the revelation of a positive test from one of its leading fencers, Ysaora Thibus, and the suspension of multiple javelin champion Alexie Alaïs.
Two former World Tour riders tested positive
On its behalf, cycling had a mixed first quarter with six doping cases and/or sporting frauds. Two atypical cases of fraud concerned the Women’s Continental team Cynisca Cycling. On 9 July 2023, one of its team managers (now suspended until the end of 2025) instructed four of its riders to lie about the presence of the team's fifth rider at the Argenta Classic (1.1). A mechanic was sent instead to allow her team to take the start. The false information given to the commissaires was therefore sanctioned.
The MPCC is particularly concerned about the two cases of Antwan Tolhoek, who tested positive for anabolic steroids in November (announcement on 7 February) as he was on his way to leave the World Tour team Lidl-Trek, and Franck Bonnamour, whose biological passport showed abnormalities according to the UCI (reclassified as "use of prohibited methods and/or substances"). At the time his provisional suspension was announced, Bonnamour was a member of one of the founding teams of our movement, Décathlon-AG2R La Mondiale. Even though the period put into question (2016-2022) does not cover the one during which Franck Bonnamour was in the French team, Décathlon-AG2R La Mondiale applied strictly our fundamental rules by quickly suspending the rider, who was finally dismissed on 26 March.
These two doping violations involving former World Tour riders are a reminder to team managers, support staff and riders to be particularly active, not to leave their riders or training partners to fend for themselves against the scourge of doping. For some of these reasons, the MPCC encourages all stakeholders of professional cycling to be "actors in the fight against doping". Our teams have been leading the way for several seasons, including 15 of the 17 ProTeams. 8 out of the 18 World Tour teams have also subscribed to the values and rules of the MPCC, which is a solid but still insufficient basis for the elite of world cycling. We also hope that other Continental teams (men's and women's) will sign up alongside us, to keep the flame of credible cycling enlighted.
Doltcini O'Shea commits to the MPCC
A few days after Lifeplus - Wahoo, a new women's professional team has decided to join the MPCC in 2024: Doltcini - O'Shea. The Continental level team has 17 riders representing 8 nationalities and includes the experienced British rider Hayley Simmonds (stage win in the 2017 Thüringen Ladies Tour), her fellows and rising talents Niamh Murphy (3rd in the 2022 juniors Tour of Flanders) and Matilda McKibben, the Irish rider Kelly Murphy as well as multiple Israeli road race champion Omer Shapira, coming from EF Education-Cannondale, another MPCC member.
Its team representantive Patrick Hayes states : « We wish to join the MPCC because we feel it is important that cycling is a fair sport and that the health of participants is safeguarded and that performance enhancing drugs are not used nor are medical treatments misused to gain advantage. As a very small team, perhaps the UCI team with the smallest budget, we think it is important that all teams are totally transparent and that it is important to observe the principal as well as the letter of the rules and not to use either substances that are not yet prohibited or in doses which are below the official limits and that larger teams do not misuse the medical resources at their disposal .Despite only being a small team, we feel it is important all teams support the MPCC not just the large ones. »
This new membership should encourage other Women's Continental and World Tour teams to join us and become strong and credible actors in pro cycling.
Credibility figures : a difficult year for sport in general
With the 2023 review of the "Credibility Figures", the MPCC takes note of the thirty or doping cases revealed in our sport. Despite this stable figure compared to 2022, our group reiterates that it is more legitimate than ever in the fight against doping.
Year 2023 closed its doors a few days ago with a clear observation : the number of doping cases revealed in high-performance sport, whether as a result of investigations by the police, journalists, anti-doping bodies independent from international federations or national anti-doping agencies, is on the rise. Last year, we recorded 620 cases of doping at the highest level of sport, compared to 587 in 2022, an increase of around 6%.
Some of these sports are affected by this increase : athletics, still at the top of the list, with 151 cases (compared to 133 in 2022) revealed by national agencies, the press or the AIU (Athletics Integrity Unit); or the MMA (15 compared with 12), violently shaken by scandals involving some of its stars (Usman Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor) and in particular the end of collaboration between the USADA, the American anti-doping agency, and the UFC, the world's biggest MMA league, effective from 1 January.
The plague of doping is also beginning to emerge in India, one of the countries most affected in 2023 and marked by surreal scenes of athletes avoiding urine tests, at the Delhi State Athletics Championships, last September.
Finally, the case of football (45 cases compared with 17) should be set into perspective, as we also note cases of sporting fraud. On 16 November, the French Professional Football League (LFP) published a list of dozens of players banned for several matches and fined for betting (prohibited by the French Sports Code) during the 2022-2023 season. The guilty players are mainly aspiring talents (aged 18 to 23) from Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and National 1, the top three professional levels of competition in french football.
A STABLE NUMBER OF CASES IN CYCLING
In this noixous climate for clean top-level sport, cycling had 28 cases of doping last year, a level more or less similar to the previous year (29 cases). However, 2023 was marked by four cases involving World Tour riders:
2 retro-active positive tests :
- Miguel Angel Lopez, who was tested weeks prior to the 2022 Giro d'Italia
- Robert Stannard, who was notified of an "anti-doping rule violation" by the UCI in June, but for a period dating back to the 2018 and 2019 seasons
And :
- Michel Hessman, suspended by his team after a positive test for a diuretic
- Alex Baudin, who was tested positive by the UCI for Tramadol in the last edition of the Giro d’Italia and disqualified from the race
It should also be noted that Tramadol has only been on the WADA list of banned products since 1 January 2024.
At our movement's general meeting on 23 October, we rightly pointed out that the climate of suspicion surrounding our sport was still latent. The major teams that dominate the World Tour but are not members of our movement are once again invited to join us and play their part in the fight against doping. The MPCC remains open to all : riders, managers, support staff, riders' representatives and fans of our sport. But it does require compliance with strict rules that are necessary if top-level cycling wants to remain credible. It is vital to play a part in the fight against doping, which is what we have done by carrying out regular cortisol tests; by pushing for a ban on Tramadol, which was added to the list of prohibited products by WADA on January 1; by promoting the work of the ITA (International Testing Agency), and so on.
Two-thirds of the men's professional teams have placed their trust in the MPCC's voluntary work, and we are also strongly encouraging those involved in women's cycling to join us so that this new year can be marked by greater credibility with the general public, our supporters and our partners.
Keeping the light on
The MPCC is today unveiling a 20-minute educational video entitled "Keeping the light on". This has been the watchword of all our members since 2007: to be proactive in building the credibility of our sport. And it is with this in mind that, once again this winter, the MPCC has formally and strongly renewed its invitation to the world's biggest teams to join the movement, and thus 'take action' in the fight against doping.
In this context, the MPCC felt it necessary to assess the situation with all the major players in the fight against doping in cycling, in particular ITA, the UCI and ASO, whom the movement would like to thank for their support and availability to produce this video.
"Keeping the light on" is educational content. The fight against doping is a subject where it is vital to be educational, taking into account the real lack of knowledge that can exist around this subject. So, to launch its 18th year of existence, our movement wanted to do more to explain what it is fighting for. This video is a tool to raise awareness and to fight, now and in the future.
Lifeplus Wahoo joins the MPCC
The MPCC is proud and delighted to announce the membership of a new team, Lifeplus Wahoo, from the Women's Continental level. The 11-strong squad includes Czech growing talent Kristyna Burlova (21) and the experienced Alicia Gonzalez, 3rd in the 2018 Morbihan Classic. 15 women's teams are now members of the MPCC (4 World Tour, 11 Continental).
“At Lifeplus Wahoo, we are eager to join the Movement For Credible Cycling and contribute to the promotion of integrity within the sport. Our team values align closely with the principles upheld by the MPCC, including a commitment to clean competition, athlete welfare, and ethical standards. By becoming members, we aim to rubber stamp our commitment to these principles that we have carried out over the past 9 years of the team, we wholeheartedly share the MPCC's ethical guidelines”, says the Co-Team Director Bob Varney.
Best wishes for 2024
MPCC President Roger Legeay and all the members of the movement wish you all the best for the New Year. In 2024, let's be even more involved in the fight against doping and the credibility of cycling.
World Tour wild cards & MPCC membership : RCS Sport makes resistance
As every year, the MPCC makes a round up of the invitations sent out by WorldTour race organizers to ProTeams, whether or not they are members of our association.
In the 2023 season, the number of members coming from the second level of competition increased once again to 16 teams out of the 18 in this division. Only Eolo-Kometa and Bolton Equities-Black Spoke, who will be leaving the ProTeam level at the end of the season, have not yet joined. This has enabled the vast majority of races to have all their wild card teams members of the MPCC. It's also the result of the work our movement has been carrying out for several years to ensure that all invitations granted at the world's biggest races are awarded exclusively to teams involved in the fight against doping and committed to making cycling even more credible.
Out of the 196 invitations issued by the 35 WorldTour races, only 19 went to « non-MPCC » teams or national squads. For the fifth year running, the percentage of teams invited to WorldTour races remains above 90%. However, the trend seen in 2022 has went on in 2023, with the organizers of the UAE Tour, the Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, the Giro d'Italia and Il Lombardia inviting teams that have not yet joined us, such as the Tudor Pro Cycling Team, which made the wise choice of joining our movement on May 24.
These races are labelled "RCS Sport", which has still not made an MPCC membership, a prerequisite for an invitation, unlike Amaury Sport Organisation (owner of the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix and the Critérium du Dauphiné) and Flanders Classics (organiser of the main Flanders classics, including the Tour of Flanders). Both organisers have reached 100% of MPCC wild cards this season.
Alongside the teams, the founders of our movement, and the riders, race organisers must also play their part and become player in the fight against doping. With this in mind, our movement hopes that RCS Sport, a linchpin in the WorldTour, will adhere to our philosophy and make future access to its races conditional on membership in the MPCC.
Be players in the fight
The Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC) met in Paris on Tuesday 24 October, on the eve of the official presentation of the Tour de France 2024, for its annual General Meeting. Its members, following a 2023 season marked by a climate of latent suspicion, no longer want to be the only ones taking action. The MPCC is targeting January 1, 2024 for a greater awareness: the credibility of our sport depends on it.
At its Annual General Meeting, the MPCC set the scene for the 18th year of its existence, with a view to reflecting on how far it has come, talking about the present and, above all, the future. When the movement was created in 2007 in London, at the start of the Tour de France, cycling was surrounded by scandals. To enhance the credibility of their sport, a number of team managers, believing in the voluntary basis, decided to adopt stricter rules to complement those of the governing bodies. Today, 70% of first or second division teams are members of the MPCC.
Over the past 17 years, their commitment has always been driven by a strong will: to be a player in the fight against doping.
- This was the case when the MPCC played its role as whistleblower with the WADA on the subject of corticosteroids and tramadol.
- This was the case when, over a period of twelve years, the MPCC carried out more than 4,000 tests to prevent the misuse of corticosteroids, until they were banned by WADA.
- This was the case when the MPCC unreservedly supported the increase in budgets to support the work of the International Testing Agency (ITA).
- This was the case when the MPCC incorporated into its regulations the principle of self-suspension of a team after two positive cases in the last twelve months. The UCI adopted this rule.
- This was the case when the MPCC noted, each year, that its members complied 100% with a set of internal rules that had never changed a single line.
- This was the case from 2007 to 2023, and will continue.
All the members of the MPCC – teams, riders, staff, agents, federations, organisers, sponsors – are repeating it today:their determination will not be weakened.
- This was not the case when, in 2015, 2018 and 2019, two teams and two federations withdrew from the MPCC, disagreeing with the internal regulations on cortisol levels.
- This was not the case either when, in 2016, another member team failed to comply with the internal rule not to hire a rider who had been suspended for more than six months.
The top six teams in the UCI 2023 men’s world ranking, and the top three women’s teams, are not members of the MPCC. They are strongly encouraged to join the movement between now and 1 January. Several of their riders have already decided to commit themselves as individuals.
At the MPCC, we are active players. And even proactive.
The MPCC’s action is supported by the ITA. For 2024, it is proposing that the teams’ financial contribution to the ITA should no longer be a fixed fee, but indexed to each team’s budget, in a context where “two-speed cycling” is becoming established in terms of financial resources.
The MPCC is invited each year by the UCI to attend its Professional Cycling Council (PCC) as an observer. The MPCC also benefits unreservedly from the support of Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme, who is determined each year to award his wild cards only to teams that are members of our movement.
The MPCC is continuing and will continue to commit to stricter rules to complement those of the authorities. To teams that are not members, we say: come on! Be a player! The persistent climate of latent suspicion requires action, forces to “keep the lights on” and demands commitment.
Over 600 riders and more than 400 team staff have joined the MPCC on a voluntary basis. To the others: come along too! To their employers: give them the freedom to commit to the MPCC according to their ethical and personal convictions.
So that the light doesn’t end up going out in the tunnel,
Be an active player in the fight!
The MPCC
Credibility Figures : 14 presumed cases...in 4 months
For the second publication, this year, of the "Credibility Figures", the MPCC took notice of the fifteen or so additional cases that have tainted professional cycling over the last four months. These revelations are a reminder of the extent to which the fight against doping must remain a constant in our sport.
Between May 1 and August 31, we identified almost 200 cases of suspected doping in sport, at national or international level, revealed by national agencies, federations or press articles. Athletics remains at the top of the list with almost a quarter of the cases. But this does not mean that this sport remains the "poor relation" in the fight against doping. The independent organisation Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has been producing considerable work since it was founded in April 2017 to encourage athletes to play by the rules and deter cheats.
On a national scale, the large number of doping cases involving South African athletes in the last four months can be explained by greater transparency on part of SAIDS, the South African anti-doping agency, about the offences committed. This transparency remains the key to restoring the credibility of top-level sport.
In this respect, the MPCC took notice of fourteen new cases of alleged doping involving professional cyclists and support staff since April. Aggravating circumstance : four of them involved World Tour riders: Alex Baudin, Robert Stannard, Miguel Angel Lopez and Michel Hessmann. This is the first time in four years that so many cases involving riders from the world's elite level have come to light in such a short space of time. In 2019, there were five cases at this level (four of which were uncovered by the Aderlass police operation).
But looking in detail at the four cases that have come to light in recent months, we can see that two of them no longer belong to the same team since the test that triggered their disciplinary procedure. Miguel Angel Lopez was riding for a Continental team this season. The period incriminating the Colombian climber dates back to the building up to the 2022 Giro d'Italia, during his last year of competition with the World team Astana. As for Robert Stannard, the rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck (MPCC member) was notified by the UCI of the "use of prohibited methods and/or substances" during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. At the time, the Australian was riding for a World Team that was not an MPCC member : Mitchelton-Scott.
On July 31, Frenchman Axel Baudin has been given a precautionary suspension by his team AG2R-Citroën team, following the presence of tramadol detected during a test at the last Giro. His team, a founding member of the MPCC, thus applied one of the fundamental rules of our movement: withdrawing a rider from competitions as soon as a positive test is reported. Two weeks later, the German Michel Hessmann was also suspended by his team (Jumbo-Visma), following a positive out-of-competition test on 14 June by his country's national anti-doping agency (NADA).
Pending the outcome of the procedures, it would be hasty to draw conclusions about the World Tour on the basis of these latest revelations. But far from the recent rumours and suspicions, this significant increase in cases at the highest level of competition in 2023 is irrefutable (only one in 2022, none in 2021, two in 2020) and calls the MPCC to question. The riders’ health and the credibility of professional cycling are at stake. These revelations are a reminder of the soundness of the approach taken by our association, which is constantly committed to fairness and ethics in our sport. They also underline the responsibility of riders, managers and team staff to play their part in the fight against doping. In this respect, we salute the sixteen women's teams that have already joined us over the last decade. The growing popularity of the UCI women's circuit is very good news for cycling, but it must also go along with safeguards such as the MPCC. Finally, we encourage non-member professional teams and their riders to join us.
