The Movement for Reliable Cycling (MPCC) has no current plans to seek new rules against the use of carbon monoxide breathers, which have been a major topic of discussion at the Tour de France, following the Escape Collective's report released in the second week of the Tour de France.

The device, which can accurately inject carbon monoxide into the lungs to measure hemoglobin, has raised concerns that it could ultimately be misused to improve performance.

UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Israel-Premier Tech confirmed to Escape Collective that they have access to the equipment, but not to artificially improve performance, but to track blood values. They emphasized that they use carbon monoxide rebreathers to track blood values.

Yellow Jersey's Tadei Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) initially brushed off questions about his practice at the Tour, but later admitted that he had used a carbon monoxide rebreather to measure hemoglobin levels at the start of a high-altitude training camp.

Jonas Vingegaard also admitted to using the device, saying: “It is to measure the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. There is nothing suspicious about it.” [The use of carbon monoxide rebreathers is not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and MPCC president Roger Le Guay told Cycling News that his organization has no current plans to seek action against the use of the devices in professional cycling. The 12 teams participating in the 2024 Tour are members of the MPCC, which also includes Israel Premier Tech.

“We have to be careful because we are talking about assumptions, not doubts,” Lejay said. 'At the moment, there is no mention of it being used in performance-enhancing optics, so it's not covered at this point.'

MPCC members adhere to additional voluntary anti-doping rules, including a ban on the use of ketones and cortisone in competition. the MPCC also has a ban on the use of MPCC also lobbied the UCI to ban the use of tramadol in competition, and WADA followed suit earlier this year.

The movement was launched in July 2007 in the wake of the doping scandal at that year's Tour. Michael Rasmussen, in the yellow jersey, was removed from the Tour by his Rabobank team for lying about his whereabouts before the race, and Alexandre Vinokurov tested positive for blood doping.

Since then, the Tour has often served as a bellwether of success in the fight against doping in cycling, and most Tour winners over the past 17 years have faced questions of varying intensity about their credibility.

Familiar questions and headlines were addressed late in the Tour for his remarkably high level of performance in the mountains, particularly on stage 15, Plateau de Beille, where he broke Marco Pantani's 1998 mountain record by 3:40. Rujay argued that top cyclists need to take a more active role in dispelling concerns about the sport's credibility.

“In all aspects of society, allegations will always exist and cannot be completely removed. By being proactive in anti-doping, we can reduce suspicions.” While anti-doping is a good thing, as evidenced by the 500 anti-doping cases in the past, especially by Lance Armstrong, it is not enough to get rid of suspicions. [We are actively working beyond the UCI rules, including corticoid, tramadol, xenon gas, and the non-recruitment of athletes with doping bans.

“Our rules have been in place for a long time and we do a lot to fight doping. We believe that taking an active role against doping and following our rules is very different from simply following anti-doping controls.

The 12 MPCC teams participating in the 2024 Tour are Cofidis, Total Energy, Lot-Dostony, Uno-X Mobility, Israel-Premier Tech, Groupama-FDJ, Alcare-B&B Hotels, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Intermarche-. Wanty, EF Education-Easy Post, Decathlon-AG2R, and DSM-Filmenig-Post NL.

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