The MPCC uses figures to illustrate the commitment of those involved in cycling to the fight against doping, in particular by publishing the identities of the riders who are individual members at the start of the three grand tours. The aim is to encourage those who are guided by a spirit of responsibility to join us.
On Friday, the 108th men’s Giro d’Italia set off from Albania for three weeks of intense racing that is likely to be wide open in the absence of the two big names in this type of event : defending champion Tadej Pogaçar and two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard. At the start, the MPCC gathers 43 individual members of our movement, representing 15 of the 23 participating teams and 12 nationalities.
RCS Sport, the company ruling the Giro, has chosen to invite the only ProTeam that is not yet a member of the MPCC. We therefore encourage this team to join us, as its membership would send out a strong signal of the commitment of sports entities to fight doping. Finally, two riders that started the Giro have served a suspension of more than six months in the past for an antidoping rule violation. They race for teams that are not members of the MPCC. We therefore hope that the MPCC member teams, and also non-members, will encourage other riders to join our ranks in order to strengthen our commitment to a sport that cares about their health, both physical and mental, and their integrity.
Cycling and the MPCC need riders and their teams
Having been involved in the fight against doping for almost two decades, the MPCC position is not a facade. At the time it was founded, our movement was operating in a very difficult environment, buffeted by doping scandals at the highest level of our sport. Since its inception, the MPCC has taken strong decisions to restore credibility, notably through the 10 fundamental rules adopted by all teams wishing to become members of our association (no hiring of a suspended rider two years after the end of the sanction, immediate withdrawal of a rider tested positive, etc.), but also through an extremely cautious attitude towards some performance-enhancing methods that border on legality.
The recent decisions taken by the MPCC and its member teams to warn against the use of ketones, pending the publication of a UCI impact assessment on the subject, and to reject the misuse of carbon monoxide illustrate the philosophy of our movement : “being active in the fight against doping”. We therefore need the riders and their teams to defend credible cycling.