Cycling’s independent anti-doping advocacy group, the Mouvement pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC), has released a statement calling on the UCI to ‘stop the escalating medicalisation of the sport’ and establish firmer rules around products cyclists can use.
The statement cites products like ketones, which the MPCC outlaws but the UCI recently recommended against without formally banning, and the opioid painkiller Tapendatol, which the group describes as “up to ten times stronger than Tramadol [a banned substance]”.
The MPCC was set up in 2007 and operates as an independent body looking to end the ‘grey area’ around doping and medicine in cycling to improve the sports credibility. They set stricter rules which teams can voluntarily adhere to – currently seven WorldTour teams and four Women’s WorldTour teams are members.
“This grey area includes substances and medical treatments not yet banned by WADA, but which raise serious ethical questions when used by healthy athletes, rather than the sick patients they were developed to treat. Cycling needs the UCI to act quickly and decisively to protect both the sport’s credibility and the health of the peloton – so that no athlete feels forced to take questionable products merely to keep up.”
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