The concentration of major races since the start of June, and the Critérium du Dauphiné, is close to its climax, the World Championships, to be held in Zürich (Switzerland) from 21 to 29 September. In the course of this season full of big events and emotions, the riders will take part in the 79th Vuelta a España, the third and final grand tour of the season.
47 riders are members of the MPCC on their own and will set off from Lisbon (Portugal) on Saturday for three weeks and 3304 kilometres. They represent 16 of the 22 starting teams and 14 different countries, a sign of the ever-increasing globalization of our sport. As it has been the case for the last two years or so in the three-week stage races, twelve teams are members of the MPCC : our eight World Tour teams and the four wild cards from the Pro Series ranks (Equipo Kern Pharma, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Dstny).
Nearly all the teams of the world’s second level have committed themselves to the fight against doping, and we would like to thank them warmly for this. The MPCC also wants to be involved in other issues such as the riders’ physical and mental health and their safety at the races. Once again, we encourage non-member World Tour teams to join us and their riders in this ongoing fight for more credible cycling.
For their part, the MPCC riders must also invite their training partners to get involved. As for the support staff, of whom we have more than 300 members to date, they can also make their contribution. The MPCC wants to be open to all cycling stakeholders (riders, riders’ representatives, managers, technical staffs, sponsors, race organisers) in professional cycling so that we can “keep the light on”.