MPCC anti-doping proposals to be considered by WADA

Three more teams sign up to Movement for a Credible Cycling

After recently adding the Lotto-Belisol team to its ranks and also pushing for a toughening of anti-doping measures, the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible [Movement for a Credible Cycling/MPCC] organisation is hoping that the World Anti-Doping Agency will take its points on board when its updates the WADA Code.

Run by former Crédit Agricole chief Roger Legeay, the MPCC was set up in 2007 with the goal of pushing for a cleaner sport. It incorporated tougher measures than either the UCI or WADA’s rules had laid out, and has included several big teams.

Legeay wants four measures to be incorporated by the MPCC members, but also by the UCI and WADA. These are a doubling of the current ban to four years for a first offence concerning ‘heavy’ doping products and methods, a fine of six months’ salary, a return to strict rules about the use of corticoids and also an undertaking by national federations not to select any riders who have served a ban greater than six months.

The latter would prevent those riders from being selected for races such as the world championships and Olympic Games.

WADA director general David Howman has responded to a letter sent by Legeay to WADA president John Fahey on November sixth. In relation to the four measures proposed by Legeay, Howman has said that these have been passed on to those who draft revisions to the WADA Code. These points will be considered when the next edition of the Code is being drawn up.

The MPCC previously numbered eleven teams, namely WorldTour teams AG2R La Mondiale, Garmin-Sharp, Lotto-Belisol and Francaise des Jeux, plus Argos Shimano, Bretagne Schuller, Cofidis, Europcar, Iam, Netapp and Sojasun.

Three more teams have now been given provisional membership, namely the Italian Pro Continental Bardiani CSF Inox team and the French Continental teams BigMat Auber 93 and VC La Pomme Marseille. Their membership will be voted upon in the next general meeting of the MPCC.

For each of those fourteen teams, the MPCC has several rules. These are to suspend a rider from the moment he has a positive A sample, whatever the substance, to wait at least two years before signing any rider who has served a ban of more than six months (excluding whereabouts cases) and to impose an eight day break from racing for any rider who has received corticoid injections.

In addition to that, the MPCC requires teams to carry out internal procedures in response to a positive test, and to automatically suspend the entire squad from racing when there have been several positive cases in a twelve month period.