MPCC: Cycling’s Credibility Figures – September 2023

For the second publication this year of its “Credibility Figures,” the MPCC has noted the fifteen additional cases that have tarnished professional cycling over the past four months. These revelations serve as a reminder of how crucial the fight against doping must remain in our sport.

Source: Press Release

Between May 1 and August 31, the MPCC recorded nearly 200 alleged doping cases worldwide in sports, 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. However, this reality does not mean that this sport remains the “poor relation” in the anti-doping fight. The independent organization Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has been doing considerable work since its foundation in April 2017 to encourage athletes to respect the rules and deter cheaters.

At the national level, the significant number of doping cases involving South African athletes over the past four months is explained by greater transparency from SAIDS, the South African anti-doping agency, regarding committed infractions. This transparency remains a key word for restoring the credibility of high-level sport.

It is in this context that the MPCC has noted the fourteen new alleged doping cases involving professional cyclists and staff since April. An aggravating circumstance: four of them concern 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 elite world riders have been revealed in such a short period. In 2019, the year ended with five cases at this level (four of which were uncovered by the Aderlass police operation).

If we look in detail at the four cases revealed in recent months, we note that two of them no longer belong to the same team since the control that triggered their disciplinary procedure. Miguel Angel Lopez is riding this season for a Continental-level team. The period incriminating the Colombian climber dates back to the weeks preceding the 2022 Giro d’Italia, during his last year of competition with the World Team Astana. Regarding Robert Stannard, the Alpecin-Deceuninck team rider (an MPCC member) was notified by the UCI of “use of prohibited methods and/or substances” during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. At the time, the Australian was defending the colors of a World team not a member of the MPCC: Mitchelton-Scott.

On July 31, Frenchman Axel Baudin was provisionally suspended by his AG2R-Citroën team, following the presence of tramadol detected by a control during the last Giro. His team, a founding member of the MPCC, thus applied one of the fundamental rules of the movement: to withdraw a rider from competitions upon notification of a positive control. Two weeks later, German Michel Hessmann was also suspended by his team (Jumbo-Visma), after an out-of-competition positive control carried out on June 14 by his country’s national anti-doping agency (NADA).

While awaiting the outcome of the initiated procedures, it would be premature to draw conclusions about the World Tour from these latest revelations. But far from recent rumors and suspicions, this notable increase in procedures at the highest level in 2023 is irrefutable (1 in 2022, 0 in 2021, 2 in 2020) and concerns the MPCC. It is a matter of the riders’ health and the credibility of professional cycling. These revelations recall the correctness of the association’s approach, continuously committed to fairness and ethics in our sport. They also highlight the responsibility of riders, managers, and team staff to be active participants in the fight against doping. In this regard, the MPCC salutes the sixteen women’s teams that have joined it over the past decade. The growing popularity of the UCI women’s circuit is very good news for cycling, but it must also be accompanied by safeguards such as the MPCC. Finally, the MPCC invites non-member professional teams and their riders, individually, to join the movement.

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