Nairo Quintana, the only case of doping on the World Tour in 2022, according to MPCC

Cycling threw the number of 29 cases of suspected doping in 2022only one related to the highest category of the World Tour, that of the Colombian runner Nairo Quintana for consumption of tramadolaccording to the latest report from the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC).

(You may be interested: Nairo Quintana: UCI source says they will not meet with the Colombian)

The 29 doping cases increase the figure for 2021 by 10, a result compiled by the MPCC based on data from federations, anti-doping agencies, courts and press articles, taking into account cases related only to professional cyclists.

Only the case of Nairo

The total of 2022 positives attributed to cycling are distributed among 15 countries and divided into six disciplines. The vast majority of the cases, 23 of 29, involved male cyclists.

In total, 5 involved in track cycling, 1 from BTT, 1 from cyclocross, 2 from BMX and another without detailing. The most notorious case of last season was Nairo Quintana’s positive for tramadol in the Tour de France.

The Colombian rider was disqualified from the French test and expelled from Arkéa-Samsic, the team he was riding for, and which prevented the boyacense from taking the start in the last Tour of Spain when the rider was already in Utrecht ready to participate.

Quintana’s is the only case within a World Tour team that the MPCC has been aware of.

On Quintana, the MPCC highlighted that “his team complied with the rules of our movement, since the cyclist was immediately suspended from competing for his Arkéa-Samsic team, which did not keep him in the team at the end of the season.”

However, the information presents inconsistencies. First, because the case of Quintana is a violation of the disciplinary code of the International Cycling Union (UCI) in the race and, second, tramadol is not within the group of prohibited substances of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

In addition, it cannot be counted as a case of the World Tour, since last year the Arkea-Samsic team did not belong to that category, it was Proteam, the second division.

General view

Most of the doping cases are attributed to Continental category teams, with 12 in total, among them, and most notably, that of the Portuguese team W52-FC Porto, dissolved after the police brought to light a case of alleged organized doping,” according to the MPCC report.

The MPCC highlighted that World Tour doping cases are the lowest ever recorded since the Festina case, referring to the 1998 Tour de France doping scandal. Currently, nine of the 18 men’s WorldTour teams are members of the MPCC: AG2R Citroën, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Arkéa-Samsic, Bora-Hansgrohe, Cofidis, EF Education-EasyPost, Groupama FDJ, Intermarché Circus Wanty and Team DSM.

The movement includes a total of 30 professional cycling teams from the entire male and female peloton, as well as 21 continental teams. The MPCC emphasizes in its report that “none of the cases disclosed at the continental level of cycling came from any of the union’s member teams” and “strongly” recommends semi-pro teams to join the MPCC, to put their ethics and credibility on the line. the center of the concerns of our sport”.