The Movement for a Credible Cycling (MPCC) recorded 20 confirmed doping cases in professional cycling in 2025, down from 22 in 2024 and 29 in 2022, according to its annual "Credibility Figures" released on February 24.
Despite the downward trend, new MPCC president Emily Brammeier (Picnic PostNL Women) cautioned against complacency, describing the figures as an "snapshot" that should not be read as proof the elite tiers of the sport are clean.
Cycling ranked tenth among high-risk sports for doping cases in 2025. Athletics topped the list with 163, followed by weightlifting (63), tennis (46, including 27 for sports fraud) and MMA (40). While the gap is wide, the MPCC focused on developments within cycling.
The WorldTour case
The report highlighted the provisional suspension of Oier Lazkano (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the first WorldTour rider flagged through the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) in two years. The UCI suspended Lazkano in late 2025 based on unexplained blood value abnormalities recorded across 2022, 2023 and 2024.
"I have never used doping substances or prohibited methods," Lazkano said in a statement following his suspension. His case remains open.
The MPCC noted that neither Lazkano nor his team were members of the organisation. It described biological passport detection as a "one of the cornerstones of the fight against doping," with ABP cases carrying particular weight because they track patterns over multiple seasons rather than relying on a single positive test.
Several other ABP cases surfaced in 2025, concentrated in Portuguese cycling as fallout from the ongoing "Operação Prova Limpa" investigation.
Beyond confirmed violations, the MPCC raised concerns over what it calls the "grey zone," substances and methods not yet banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency but which may offer performance benefits or pose health risks. Tapentadol, an opioid painkiller reported to be ten times more potent than the recently banned Tramadol, was singled out for urgent review. Carbon monoxide inhalation, used to simulate altitude by inducing hypoxia, was added by WADA to its Prohibited List (Method M1.4) on September 11, 2025, with the ban taking effect on January 1, 2026.
The MPCC currently counts seven of 18 WorldTeams among its members, and represents over 1,200 total members, including nearly 700 individual riders and approximately 16 of the 17 men's ProTeams.
Cover image: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com
