The Movement for a Credible Cycling (MPCC) was founded in 2007 to strengthen the fight against doping and make it more transparent. Currently, 600 cyclists, 400 team members, 9 World Teams (men), 6 Women's World Teams, 15 Pro Teams, 13 Continental Teams and many race organisers are members of the MPCC. The association traditionally publishes figures on doping cases in the past year.
Number of detected doping cases on the rise
Conclusion of the MPCC on doping 2023: "The number of doping cases uncovered in elite sport, whether through investigations by the police, journalists, anti-doping organisations independent of the international federations or national anti-doping agencies, is increasing. Last year, 620 doping cases were registered in elite sport; in 2022, the figure was 587, which corresponds to an increase of around 6 per cent."
There has been a particularly sharp rise in doping cases in athletics, which remains at the top of the list with 151 cases (compared to 133 in 2022). In India, one of the countries most affected in 2023, the doping problem in athletics was particularly visible in 2023. At the national athletics championships in Delhi last September, there were surreal scenes of athletes evading urine tests. In football, the statistics are somewhat distorted, as cases of sports fraud were also counted.
Russia leads the list of countries with doping cases by a clear margin: 71 doping cases were reported last year. Together with cases of fraud and positive follow-up investigations, there were 91 cases. In Germany, the statistics list three cases.
Doping in cycling
There were 28 cases of doping in cycling last year, which is roughly the same level as the previous year (29 cases). However, 2023 was characterised by four cases involving World Tour riders:
Current doping tests:
- Michel Hessman, who was appointed by his team after a positive test was suspended on a diuretic
- Alex Baudin, who tested positive for tramadol at the UCI during the last edition of the Giro d'Italia and was banned from the race disqualified was.
Two retroactive cases:
- Miguel Angel Lopezwhich was tested weeks before the Giro d'Italia 2022
- Robert Stannard, who was informed by the UCI in June of an "anti-doping rule violation", albeit for a period dating back to the 2018 and 2019 seasons
"The big teams that dominate the World Tour but are not members of our movement are once again invited to join us and contribute to the fight against doping. The MPCC remains open to all: Riders, managers, support staff, riders' representatives and fans of our sport. But it requires compliance with strict rules, which are necessary if elite sport is to remain credible. We have done this by regularly carrying out cortisol tests, by campaigning for a ban on tramadol, which was added to the list of banned products by WADA on 1 January, by supporting the work of the ITA (International Testing Agency), etc.," reads the MPCC press release.
Kristian Bauer
Editor
