Arnaud Demaret expressed concern that not everyone in the peloton adheres to the same rules and restrictions on products such as ketones, noting that the intensity of racing has increased significantly over the year.

In an interview with Le Parisien (opens in new tab), DeMare avoided using the word "doping," but his Groupama-FDJ team, along with other members of the Movement for Reliable Cycling (MPCC), does not use ketones He emphasized that there are no ketones.

"I have my doubts about peloton, but I'm just saying what a lot of people are seeing," DeMarre said. 'Not everyone has the same restrictions on certain products like ketones. I'm part of the team and I have the same commitments as the rest of the players. But the entire peloton is not like us," he said.

De Mare enjoyed a successful 2020 campaign with 14 wins, including four stages of the Giro d'Italia, and although he won nine races in 2021, including a victory at the Paris Tour in October, he struggled at times during the season. Most notably, he was eliminated from the Tour de France after finishing outside the time limit on stage 9.

"A lot of riders feel the same way I do," he said. 'It's always part of the game to compete against riders stronger than you. But this season, after Paris-Nice, I was able to ride really fast. In just one year, I've really accelerated."

Ketone ester supplements have been banned from the MPCC team after a study at the University of Leuven suggested their performance-enhancing effects.

MPCC rules also prohibit the use of cortisone during competition, and member teams voluntarily undergo additional cortisol testing before the Grand Tour.Groupama-FDJ is a member of Cofidis, Qhubeka NextHash, Team DSM, Lotto Soudal, Bora-Hansgrohe, AG2R Citroën, EF Education-Nippo, Israel Start-Up Nation, and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux. MPCC, along with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, is one of the ten teams currently on the World Tour.

Of the 43 Grand Tours held since the movement began in the summer of 2007, only five have been won by riders then on MPCC teams and subject to the voluntary additional rules. Tom Dumoulin's 2017 Giro d'Italia win in the colors of Team Sunweb is the most recent example.

On the eve of the 2021 season, De Mare's teammate Thibaut Pinot also expressed concern about treatment use exemptions and the prevalence of ketones in the professional peloton, saying "cycling is still moving at two speeds."

In a February interview with L'Équipe magazine, Pino added: "The people in the peloton are not fit to compete. They are not fit for competition. I don't understand how they can use cortisone to race bikes."