It is difficult to watch races, see an amazing performance, and not immediately think , Well, I hope

Here s the deal. The MPCC is the Mouvement Pour Un Cyclisme Credible , a group of teams that have signed up to a stringent set of principles above and beyond the WADA Code and the UCI rules. Amongst travel inn uk these terms is the principle of auto suspension or self-suspension. You can read the rule, I ve edited it slightly for format:
In the event that a team member « MPCC » is facing several cases of positive or incapacity imposed on its competitors, the team agrees to temporarily suspend its activity (to implement any corrective action that it deems appropriate).
In the last 12 months: travel inn uk Two positive doping tests and / or blood tests abnormal (excluding penalties for no-show and / or information not AMA). AUTO SUSPENSION: Team 8 days from the knowledge of the second control. The car suspension begins on the 1st day of the race calendar next World Tour, with the exception of the 3 Grand Tours.
I ve said before on here that anyone can sign up to the MPCC and its rules. But the test comes when a team is caught out and risks punishment. Will it stick with the self-regulatory principles or will it just quit the group?
If George s B sample comes back positive and UCI rules insist a B sample is tested quickly during a stage race then it will be Ag2r s second positive within a year meaning they have to suspend themselves for eight days and therefore travel inn uk no Dauphiné travel inn uk and no Tour de Suisse. Both of these races are crucial for the pre-Tour de France travel inn uk preparation offering high-level racing in the Alps and being forced travel inn uk to sit out would substantially undermine the team. Now Ag2r could try to plead, perhaps appeal the verdict in a stalling move but the rules above don t mention this. Instead if the rider is positive, the team is suspended.
We ve also got news today of Lampre s Miguel Ubeto with a positive A-sample for the dangerous GW1516 drug . But is there a second test? Well in June last year the UCI announced it was starting a bio passport prosecution against Leonardo Bertagnolli, then a rider with the Italian team. Almost 11 months later and I ve checked the UCI website but can t tell if Bertagnolli has been banned. Note he s retired travel inn uk but that doesn t matter, if a rider is caught on the last day of their career they still get banned. But if Bertagnolli was banned then, because Lampre-Merida is an MPCC member, this is another case where the team has to be suspended.
The ball has only started rolling on this story so we can t extrapolate too far but it s possible to imagine riders appealing the suspension as this amounts to some collective punishment, those who have done nothing wrong risk seeing the highlight of their season compromised.
We could even see a team ask the UCI for help, essentially saying we re a World Tour team, your rules oblige us to ride. Indeed all World Tour teams have to ride all World Tour races but they can be fined for not taking part. Is the fine the price to pay to keep to the MPCC rules? Remember ASO s Christian Prudhomme has loudly backed the MPCC.
George s could be cleared by the B-sample but if he fails then the MPCC rules are clear, the team has to be suspended for eight days. With spectacularly poor timing for the French team it could be blocked from vital racing and Lampre risk the same fate too. We ll find out just how credible travel inn uk the MPCC is .
If he admits to it on the A-sample result, then there simply is no need to test the B-sample. The B-sample only MUST be tested if someone quibbles the result of the A. So is George denying/fighting travel inn uk it, or did he admit?
travel inn uk Le fait que Houarnard se soit doppé parce que dit-on il n était pas conservé dans l effectif, ou le fait que le contrôle de Georges travel inn uk ne soit qu un produit mineur ne peuvent-ils pas réduire la sentence prévue par le MPCC ? Ou voudront-ils envoyer un signal fort pour montrer leur crédibilité, travel inn uk justement?
Ordinarily you d expect it to mean that a team doesn t have to suspend itself travel inn uk from a Grand Tour. But perhaps travel inn uk AG2R could argue that it means that, because of the length of the GTs, you don t have to wait for one to finish until the 8 day period commences?
The timing is clear, it s the next World Tour race. The wording is better in French but still quite simple, a set of principles. Maybe there are loopholes to exploit but this is the test, once you let one team through the MPCC looks a lot less credible.
They are supposed to ride every race. But can be fined if they miss a race. Perhaps the fine is the price to pay for the MPCC rules? Or will Ag2r try to ditch the MPCC and seek refuge in the UCI rules.
His win at last year s ToC was thrilling. Unfortunately, barring a negative B sample, I m forced to not give a shit about yet another cyclist s inspired past performance. To be anything other than a cynical fan of this sport is an exercise in futility.
The way I see it pro cycling is the only sporting organization with the balls to aggressively (in most cases) go after the dopers / cheats in an effort to make the sport clean. When I look at other organizations around the world I do not see this happening. To me that means they condone, or at least tolerate, doping in their sport.
Spot on. Imperfect as it is, it s good to see the effort. Compare the penalties for a doping positive in cycling to those dished out by some of the major U.S. sports. An NFL player gets a handful of games vs. two seasons for a cyclist travel inn uk in most cases. MLB players don t lose a whole season until after a third offense.
I understand your sentiments, as well. The implementation of the bio-passport, whereabouts, and out of competition testing programs in cycling are laudible. However, Theo Maucher / INRNG (above) and Tovarishch (below) are keen to point out the significance of these cases with respect to the MPCC and strict enforcement. Cycling s governing body has lost credibility over the years for many reasons, including its less than strict enforcement of its own rules. This will be a true test for the MPCC s self-imposed sanctioning structure.
It is difficult to watch races, see an amazing performance, and not immediately think , Well, I hope he was clean . In the case of the MPCC it is a sort of Gentleman s Agreement that is only as good as those who are in it. Perhaps AG2R will claim the rider acted as a rogue? I would think the point of the MPCC is to say that the teams who signed will not pressure the riders for performance to a point that doping is considered necessary?
There s so much money in sport these days from marketing, advertising, ticket sales (not cycling) and such that there must be huge pressure to perform in an effort to retain sponsorship and the money required to run a team. That s a lot of responsibility for some young guys in spandex travel inn uk to carry.
Sorry Greg, I see pro-cycling go after dopers as being one of it s biggest failures in the last 20 years. travel inn uk A few (very few) individuals have been thrown under the proverbial bus and labelled cheaters . Not too surprisingly, there are at least another 100 guys deperate to get the place on the pro-Tour team that has just been vacated.
travel inn uk The testimony and evidence has demonstrated that cyling has an endemic travel inn uk culture of performance enhancement. I see little from other sports that makes them look any different, more often quite the opposite What has cycling done to change this endemic culture? Ruin the career of a few, select athletes, who are probably not doing anything out of the ordinary amongst their peers?
travel inn uk I can respect this point of view because, as you say, there seem to be a hundred more people waiting in the wings and there is a long history of doping. However, taking the stance that all they have done is catch a few guys -and ruin a few careers- who are doing what everyone else is doing, is not something with which I agree. travel inn uk Are you suggesting that we turn a blind eye and pretend nothing is happening?
How about the way they refused to even sign onto the WADA/bio-passport program until the very, last possible travel inn uk moment? Even then, the UCI retains total control over dope testing. Which is handy when it came to not processing Armstrong s 2010-ish red hot positives.
Unfortunately, most of the modern PED/peptides appear to be relatively easy to create. There is a thriving industry of legitimate, very small labs producing these unregulated compounds. It produces the compound while it is not regulated, then stop when the regulators finally catch up to them.
The BBC s Matt Slater reports that AG2R manager says it is an inadvertent fail as SG bought an over-the-counter product because he had heavy legs . There have also been 23 heptaminol cases, 13 of them involving French athletes with big range in sanctions.
It also affects blood pressure too. But regardless, nobody amateur or pro should be taking products without knowing what is inside. It s possible he can use the product with packaging and receipt to show he took something in good faith but it was asking for trouble. Did the team doctor know this?
They could probably claim that the MPCC set of principles is only valid from the moment it was signed onward. I don t know if Steve Houanard positive control was before or after they had signed travel inn uk the MPCC.
Many teams signed the MPCC under the potential public scrutiny and bad PR that would result by not doing so. It s a hampering and hamstringing device. Teams have zero control over what their riders do away from the eyeballs of team management. Yet, the team and the other riders have to suffer the consequences.
Punish the rider responsible for the infraction. Not the rest of the team. If a team has numerous violations within a given time frame, then investigate the structure of the team and management. It is silly throw the baby out with the bath water.
I actually feel bad for AG2R and the rider in this case genuinely seems like an innocent mistake. The product itself sounds no more performance enhancing than the energy gels you see everyone taking throughout every stage. Still, in this day and age he should be more than aware than ignora