MPCC held its videoconferenced Board of Directors on 1 March as well as its General Assembly on 2 March. Several important topics have been discussed.

The Board of Directors performed the election of its 2021 Bureau:

  • President: Roger Legeay
  • Vice-President: Iwan Spekenbrink (Team DSM)
  • Treasurer: Sébastien Hinault (Arkea-Samsic)
  • Assistant treasurer: Marc Sergeant (Lotto-Soudal)
  • Secretary: Philippe Senmartin (Total-Direct Energie)
  • Assistant secretary: Franck Trajber (Cofidis Solutions Crédit)
  • Physician: Dr Pierre Lebreton (Hematologist)
  • Member: Christophe Brandt (Bingoal-WB)
  • Member: Gianni Savio (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec)
  • Member: Vincent Lavenu (AG2R Citroen Team)

Fight against doping, riders safety, saving the environment 

MPCC members noted WADA’s decision to ban any type of glucocorticoids injection starting 2022. This topic has been on our Board of Directors and General Assemblies’ agendas for many years. Since the very beginning of the movement in 2007, our members volunteered to commit to stricter rules about glucocorticoids use. Over the past twelve years, MPCC carried out 4 207 cortisol level tests prior to a lot of major races, thanks to the involvement of the member teams and its riders. The announcement by WADA of stricter regulations on glucocorticoids is good news, as MPCC was not created towards this purpose. However, MPCC will be forced to continue setting up cortisol level tests in 2021, within the framework of the health of the riders.

For many years MPCC has fulfilled its whistleblower role on the glucocorticoids matter. The prospect of reaching a consensus is a big step. Though, the movement insists that it will not be fully satisfied until the exact content of this regulation is known. At this moment, this is still in process. We expect WADA and UCI to release more information to ensure this ban will improve cycling’s credibility and offer equal opportunities to teams and riders. MPCC will hold its whistleblower role with care alongside the governing bodies.

MPCC also remains vigilant on others important topics such as ketones. All the physicians of the member teams committed not to encourage their riders to use this substance. MPCC urges WADA and UCI to make progress on their monitoring studies about ketones so we can rely on a complete knowledge about side effects.

Following these new elements, all of the teams which are not part – or not anymore – of the movement because of our strong engagement on the glucocorticoids should change their minds.

MPCC also reviewed the new rules released by CCP about riders’ safety and environment preservation. The fight for the credibility of cycling is not only about antidoping, so we welcome these decisions as they are relevant with our line: cycling needs its stakeholders to set an example to protect its image.

Race organizers & sanitary context

Our members have expressed concerns after RCS Sport announcement of Giro d’Italia’s wild cards. MPCC will not mess with the choices of the organizers. However, we are surprised that ethical criterion was not taken into account: RCS granted two of its four wild cards to non-MPCC members (Eolo-Kometa and Vini Zabu-Brado-KTM). Vini Zabu-Brado-KTM’s case is annoying: this team, once a member of the MPCC, decided to quit the movement, and experienced a positive antidoping test on the 2020 Giro d’Italia. We reckon that this regrettable event should have influenced the decision of the organizer. Given that this has not been the case, we have trouble understanding how RCS Sport sets its criteria, both in sporting and ethical terms.

At the end of each season, MPCC highlights the ProTeams which received wild cards on WorldTour races. In 2020, RCS Sport didn’t follow the example of other main organizers such as ASO or Flanders Classics, by granting fewer wild cards to MPCC teams – a situation already experienced before. We can’t be confident 2021 will promise us a trend change. Once again, MPCC doesn’t want to put pressure on race organizers’ choices but MPCC is convinced that awarding a wild card for races as popular as the Giro d’Italia to a team which ended the previous edition with a positive antidoping test is a wrong signal.

MPCC would like to remind all the cycling race organizers of its support. In 2020, the consequences of the current Covid-19 crisis caused major difficulties, but a large majority of the races achieved to offer high levels of professionalism to comply with the required sanitary constraints. We can’t say all the sports and all the sporting events reveal the same rigor in the application of the rules. This is why MPCC wants to congratulate all the players of the cycling sport: teams, riders, staff members, sponsors, as well as all the different accredited workers attending the races. In these serious circumstances, all the people who keep our sport alive are displaying responsibility. This is an evidence of the great strength of cycling, a sport which is able to do what has to be done in order to maintain credibility.