{"id":498602,"date":"2026-02-25T13:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498602\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T13:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:21:09","slug":"cycling-appears-to-be-a-model-student-number-of-doping-cases-in-pro-racing-declines-but-anti-doping-group-encourages-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498602\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Cycling appears to be a model student’ – number of doping cases in pro racing declines, but anti-doping group encourages caution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of doping cases reported in 2025 has fallen for the first time in three years, according to the latest Credibility Figures from anti-doping group the MPCC (Movement for a Credible Cycling<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The 20 cyclists found to have used performance enhancing drugs<\/a> last year presented a decrease on the 29 reported incidents in 2022, though the organisation has warned that the sport cannot afford to become complacent about doping.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough relatively few WorldTour riders have tested positive in recent years, this does not mean that the elite of our sport is 100% clean,\u201d an MPCC spokesperson wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in two years, a World Tour rider has been suspended,\u201d the statement continued, alluding to the ex-Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe<\/a> athlete, Oier Lazkano<\/a>. The Spaniard was suspended in October 2025 <\/a>after irregularities were found in his biological passport whilst riding for Movistar<\/a> between 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: MPCC (Movement for a Credible Cycling))<\/p>\n

Far from a problem contained to WorldTour racing, the MPCC also confirmed the presence of doping within Continental racing: of the 20 professional cases of doping reported in 2025, nine occurred at Continental level. A further 25 riders in Columbia were also serving bans or provisional suspensions in mid December, half of whom were amateur riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cCycling must both question the significant development of certain medical practices known as \u201cgrey areas<\/a>\u201d among the elite and tackle \u201ctraditional\u201d doping, particularly at Continental level,\u201d the MPCC stated.<\/p>\n

These \u2018grey areas\u2019 include what the MPCC call the increased \u201cmedicalisation of our sport.\u201d The opioid painkiller tramadol<\/a> was one such \u201cgrey area\u201d tackled by the MPCC. Four years on from its eventual ban, the organisation is still fighting to control the widespread use of painkillers in the sport, which they warn could have consequences on riders\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MPCC not only takes a stand in the fight against doping,<\/a> which is an ongoing battle, but also wishes to broaden the issue of \u2018credible cycling\u2019 to include riders health, <\/a>support for the fast growth of women\u2019s cycling, the safety in races, etc,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n

Of the 20 cyclists found to have doped in 2025, four of them were female cyclists. The MPCC stressed that as the growth of women\u2019s cycling<\/a> continues to accelerate, the sport will have to be uncompromising in its adherence to anti-doping regulations.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, cycling was only the tenth most quoted sport in doping and sports fraud cases last year, the report continued. Athletics came out on top, followed by weightlifting and tennis.<\/p>\n

After years battling the mire of doping scandals, cycling, the report surmises, has the potential to be a \u201cmodel student after having been considered a weak link for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of doping cases reported in 2025 has fallen for the first time in three years, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-498602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}