We put this question to the players (athletes, staff) of the MPCC. But this is Roger Legeay, President of the movement, who share the official story by relating this founding act.
Not everyone has the answer to this question. Yes, the massive arrival of new members seen in 2013, due in part to the Armstrong scandal, might have suggested it was the beginning of the movement, but the inception of the MPCC is dated more than six years before this turning point. The decision to create the MPCC had been motivated by a very particular episode:
Founding members of the MPCC – committed on a voluntary basis in July 2007 – were:
> AG2R Prévoyance (now called AG2R La Mondiale)
> Agritubel (Cessation of activity in the late 2009)
> Bouygues Telecom (now called Direct Energie)
> Cofidis
> Crédit Agricole (Cessation of activity in the late 2009)
> Française des Jeux (now called FDJ)
> Gerolsteiner (Cessation of activity in the late 2008)