Jumbo-Visma defended Tom Dumoulin's withdrawal from the MPCC, saying their Tour de France candidate did not want to be accused of hypocrisy regarding the use of the controversial sports supplement, ketones. Dumoulin's reasons for leaving the MPCC were branded "unreasonable" by MPCC president Roger Le Guay, who said, "The MPCC is not a party to the Tour de France.

Dumoulin announced his decision to withdraw from the MPCC late last week, citing a lack of ketones and physical clarity and support regarding the Paris-Nice race earlier this year.

The 2017 Giro d'Italia winner was a member of the MPCC because of his previous affiliation with Sunweb, but he decided to continue as an independent member when Dumoulin moved to rival Jumbo Visma. Jumbo Visma left MPCC in 2015, and his current use of ketones put him in direct conflict with MPCC, which has a gentleman's agreement not to use ketones.

"It was his own idea to leave the MPCC," Jumbo-Visma director Merijn Zeeman told Cyclingnews.

"It was based on Tom's opinion and he has to do what he thinks is right. We don't hide the fact that ketones are a supplement; the MPCC advises against using ketones, so Tom has two choices. He could keep quiet, but I don't want to be a hypocrite because it is a supplement he wants to use. I think he makes a good point."

MPCC's stance on ketones stems from their belief that there is a lack of information on the long-term effects of the supplement. For Jumbo Visma and other teams that use ketones, they are just one piece of the jigsaw puzzle in terms of fueling riders and optimizing performance.

"People think that supplementation makes the difference between winning and losing and use it as an excuse when they don't win, but if you look at all the international research, you will see that this assumption is not correct," Zeman added.

Zeman also noted that Jumbo Visma has followed all of the MPCC guidelines that have been implemented by the UCI and WADA in recent years, and that their decision to use ketones and declare Dumoulin's resignation from the MPCC was a decision that the cycling community and fans of the sport emphasized that it stems from their collective desire to be transparent to the cycling community and fans of the sport.

"We want to be a transparent team and we try not to have secrets about it. If people want to believe that it's the supplements that determine success, that's up to them, but some people know better."

"We're not going to be secretive about it, but we're going to be transparent about it.

One area where the MPCC and UCI rules do not yet overlap is the use of corticoid steroids, which are banned by the MPCC at all times and which the UCI has not yet followed but apparently intends to align its guidelines with the MPPC this season. However, Jumbo Visma has clarified the situation and complies with MPCC rules except for ketones.

"Our policy is very strict and we follow MPCC guidelines for all medical parts except ketones. We fully support the idea of clean cycling and clean sport. I think we have the strongest anti-doping policy in the peloton. We are very proud of it and the Dutch Olympic Committee has cited our policy to all the different sports in the Netherlands as being an example of how an anti-doping policy should be"

.

The Jumbo-Visma team is with the riders on Dumoulin's claim that the MPCC should have done more to protect riders during Paris-Nice.

The Dutch team decided to miss a week of stage races in France due to the pandemic spread of COVID-19. At the time, Europe had not yet been completely sealed off, but there were genuine concerns for rider safety and the spread of the infection. With Bahrain McLaren pulling out mid-race, several other WorldTour teams also decided not to participate in the race. Ultimately, the French government and race organizer ASO decided to cancel the race before it arrived in Nice, and the race ended a day earlier than planned.

For Dumoulin, the MPCC should have done more to represent its members, an argument that MPCC leader Roger Lejay refuted in an interview with Cycling News earlier this week.

"We don't want to look for controversy, and what he said was that he didn't support the message that riders shouldn't train too much because of the MPCC's response in Paris-Nice and the risk of infection from COVID-1 after Paris-Nice. And the fact that there was a race a week before that and the possibility of infection means that he has his own opinion about the MPCC. I think he has a right to say that he knows what he's talking about," Zeman said.

"We did not support it and from the beginning we had big doubts about the safety of everyone in Paris-Nice. There were many questions, and the health of the players and staff was our top priority."