This Monday, a press conference about the fight against technological fraud was taking place at the French State Secretariat of Sports. The MPCC President, Roger Legeay, was there and rejoiced at the measures announced.
Measures addressed to crack down on technological fraud were announced this Monday at the French State Secretariat of Sports. Several people directly concerned by this new scourge attended the press conference: Brian Cookson (UCI President), Christian Prudhomme (Tour de France Director), David Lappartient (FFC President), Thierry Braillard (State Secretariat of Sports), Marc Madiot (LNC President) and MPCC President Roger Legeay.
Director of the CEA basic research Vincent Berger introduced the thermal camera this laboratory developed. The latter was tested this weekend during the French championships in Vesoul. « This technology is 100% reliable », Thierry Braillard said of it. « It is a genuine dissuasion weapon, » Christian Prudhomme added. Expanded controls will be made during the Tour de France and sanctions will be more repressive. Most of all, the unity showed by the stakeholders in the face of this problem emphasizes everyone’s willpower to find solutions in order to make cycling fully credible again.
« This rapprochement between ASO et the UCI is obviously a good thing, » MPCC President Roger Legeay reacted. Gathering all the available resources to fight against technological fraud is one thing, doing it in a very formal way with all the stakeholders is another. These measures have been taken will full transparency and we reacted quickly. We now need to ensure continuity, to not ease up in our efforts and to not limiting ourselves to the Tour de France. In his function as whistleblower, and with the satisfaction of having been involved in the reflexions on the topic, the MPCC endorses those decisions and encourages them. »
The MPCC member teams commit to make their bikes and equipments available to the commissioners at any moment and at any time.
Furthermore, as part of their joint action concerning riders’ health protection, the FFC anonymously noticed the MPCC that two riders out of the 157 taking part in the race were given a medical contraindication (cortisol level abnormally low) that prevented them from starting the French professional championship in Vesoul (road race).