Movement for Credible Cycling urges zero tolerance for doping

PARIS (AFP) — The Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) has called for a zero-tolerance approach to doping beginning next year as the sport strives for credibility after the Lance Armstrong scandal.

In a letter, the MPCC called for the international association of race organizers, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the European cycling confederation to back moves to make zero tolerance “the golden rule” in the sport.

The organization consists of 11 professional cycling teams and enforces a strict ethical code that most notably provides for the systematic dismissal of any rider found to have tested positive for a major doping product and suspended for more than six months.

The letter, a copy of which has been seen by AFP, urged all race organizers — including those in the UCI WorldTour — to “adhere unreservedly” to the group’s philosophy of not inviting new members who do not stick to the MPCC’s stringent anti-doping code.

On October 24, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme gave his backing to the MPCC, describing its approach as “the future” for the sport.

“The only way in which to change the culture [in cycling] is to apply draconian rules such as those that members of the MPCC apply,” he added.

Elsewhere in the letter, the MPCC told WADA it was concerned about the increasing use of corticosteroids, which riders have used to treat inflammation and saddle sores but are on the banned list.

It also called on European bodies “not to select for national teams in any discipline or race any rider suspended for more than six months in the two years following their suspension.”

The MPCC said the sanction should not be retroactive but “should apply only for (doping) violations committed from January 1, 2013.”