![\"MPCC](\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Copy-of-cam-jones-rapha.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nMPCC puts Tapentadol and the \u2018medicalization of the sport\u2019 at center of efforts as UCI rolls out bio passport crackdown.<\/p>\n
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(Photo: Gruber Images + Getty)<\/p>\n
Updated December 29, 2025 01:54AM<\/p>\n
Cycling\u2019s anti-doping group is urging the UCI<\/a> to clamp down on the \u201cescalating medicalization\u201d of the sport.<\/p>\n In a recent press release<\/a>, the MPCC<\/a> sounded warning claxons over a peloton that\u2019s riding high on the hyper-strength opioid Tapendatol and swigging cocktails of performance-boosting, pain-killing chemicals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MPCC is becoming increasingly concerned about an excessive use of medicine in the sport,\u201d reads the note.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call upon the governing body to take action against the expansion of the so-called grey area. This grey area includes substances and medical treatments not yet banned by WADA, but which raise serious ethical questions when used by healthy athletes, rather than the sick patients they were developed to treat.\u201d<\/p>\n The MPCC\u2019s new focus on \u201cmedicalization\u201d comes soon after the UCI issued its controversial, non-committal stance<\/a> on ketones<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governing body recommended in October that riders not use ketones, but did not ban them. The verdict was delivered after years of the MPCC campaigning against the use of these nutritional supplements.<\/p>\n As far as the MPCC is concerned, the UCI cannot waste such time addressing these new medical scourges of pro cycling.<\/p>\n Finishing bottles and high-power painkillers The MPCC \u201cclean cycling\u201d group has long campaigned to remove \u201cgrey areas\u201d from the pro peloton.<\/p>\n Unlike its old war on ketones \u2013 supplements that were widely and openly used for years \u2013 its new targets are more mysterious and potentially more dangerous.<\/p>\n The MPCC resurfaced decades-old concerns of riders slugging finishing shots of painkillers, caffeine, and who knows what else in preparation for the final Ks of a race.<\/p>\n The group also aired its fear of the use of the potent painkiller Tadendatol in the \u201cmedicalized\u201d modern peloton.<\/p>\n \u201cThe so-called \u2018finishing bottle\u2019 rumors are back rife in the peloton. Multiple borderline substances are said to be mixed and passed into the peloton to prepare riders ready for the final,\u201d read the note issued last week.<\/p>\n \u201cNext to this, we face other potential substance abuse with medicine such as Tapendatol, which is up to 10 times stronger than Tramadol [which was banned in competition by WADA after 12 years of lobbying from the MPCC].<\/p>\n \u201cThe UCI now has this specific substance under monitoring,\u201d the statement continues. \u201cBut must we wait for the result of another lengthy analysis while riders\u2019 health is at risk and crashes are becoming even more prominent?\u201d<\/p>\n MPCC calls for decisive action in midst of UCI bio passport crackdown
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\u2018Finishing bottles\u2019 are thought to have been part of pro cycling for decades. (Photo: Gruber Images )<\/p>\n
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The MPCC wants fast action from the UCI, in contrast to the governing body\u2019s drawn-out consideration of ketones. (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n