The UCI and the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) have raised concerns about the use of the powerful opioid painkiller Tapentadol in professional cycling, according to a report by Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
In a meeting of the Professional Cycling Council last month, the UCI highlighted its worries about the possible use of Tapentadol, a painkiller it warns could be up to “ten times” more powerful than Tramadol.
According to Le Temps, the UCI sought and received permission from WADA at the end of last year to add Tapentadol to its monitoring programme with a view to eventually banning the substance altogether.
That action echoes how the UCI monitored the use of Tramadol through anti-doping controls before outlawing the drug’s use in competition from March 2019. In January of this year, Tramadol was added to the WADA banned list.
Tapentadol was first developed by German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal in the 1980s. It received FDA approval in the United States in 2008 and was approved in Europe two years later. The opioid is a Class A controlled drug in the United Kingdom and is a Schedule I controlled drug in Canada, in the same class as morphine, fentanyl, Tramadol and heroin.
In the Professional Cycling Council meeting on May 29, the UCI outlined its concerns to representatives of riders, teams and race organisers. Le Temps quoted from the minutes of the meeting: “The UCI expressed their concerns for a new substance called Tapentadol, which may possibly be used as a replacement for Tramadol. More analysis is needed but if used it is believed to be ten times stronger than Tramadol.”
MPCC president Roger Legeay confirmed to Le Temps that his organisation has written to WADA to call for the prohibition of Tapentadol, in a mirror of the group’s longstanding stance on Tramadol.
“It took us twelve years to get Tramadol banned. This time, we hope that the authorities will be quicker,” Legeay said.
“Healthy athletes have no need to resort to therapeutic products of this nature. Furthermore, it should be stressed that analgesics reduce or eliminate pain, which is a performance-enhancing factor.”
Eight WorldTour teams – Bora-Hansgrohe, Cofidis, Decathlon-AG2R, Groupama-FDJ, DSM-Firmenich-PostNL, Intermarché-Wanty, Arkéa-B&B Hotels and EF Education-EasyPost – are currently members of the MPCC.
