In just over a year, a huge five WorldTour teams (Katusha, Lampre-Merida, Astana, LottoNL-Jumbo and Orica-GreenEdge) have all left the MPCC (Movement for Credible Cycling). The group has released a statement accusing some of those teams of joining the group for the wrong reasons and has asked WADA to ban corticosteroids and tramadol.

“The recent withdrawal of several UCI World Tour team members from MPCC (KATUSHA, LAMPRE-MERIDA, ASTANA) cannot be explained by a problem of compatibility between the rules governing our sport and the philosophy of the movement. To the MPCC, this is mostly related to these teams’ failure to keep their commitment, just three years after their accession,” the MPCC statement read.

“Without a doubt, some of these teams – which have excluded themselves by not following the rules they committed to – had not hesitated to carry high their new MPCC flag in front of the media, the UCI licence commission and/or the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with the aim of preserving their image and their World Tour status. By not respecting their commitment, these teams did join MPCC by opportunism.”

ProContinental teams Bardiani-CSF and SouthEast both left the group last season too.