Mechanical Doping

If someone was caught doping mechanically, I reckon the rest of the peloton would lynch them, unlike chemical doping where it's more like 'there by the grace of God go I ....'

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/07/motors-in-bikes-concern-over-lack-of-tests-at-the-tour-de-france/

The Guardian described mechanical doping as the Loch Ness Monster of cycling; much talked about but never actually seen.

It has to be nice little confidence boost if the UCI check your bike for a motor.

Hmmm...

https://twitter.com/cyclingreporter/status/693471602592354306

Allegedly stick motor in bike, motor breaks, walk bike over finish line and abandon. Priceless.

http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/uci-statement-174751/

Van den Driessche bike had electric cables in the seat tube and a motor in the bottom bracket https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsporza.be%2Fcm%2Fsporza%2Fwielrennen%2Fveldrijden%2F1.2559848&edit-text=

https://twitter.com/TheRaceRadio/status/693519974573277184

People have started looking at video of her races this year and commentary from Koppenberg race is "she is so strong on the climbs but losing time everywhere else, must be a technique thing"

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/uci-detains-bike-suspected-of-technological-fraud-at-cyclo-cross-world-championships-209465

"I remember seeing this once on a track, and to be fair I had my suspicions at the time. There was Chris Hoy and five other riders strung out behind this fat bloke on a weird looking bike, and they couldn't get past him. Eventually the fat dude got fed up (probably getting hungry) and pulled off the track, which is the only reason he didn't win as far as I could see!"

Down/flat/up splits from Koppenberg

https://t.co/rf0cEcenNz

http://cyclingtips.com/2016/01/more-details-emerge-about-motorized-doping-at-cyclo-cross-worlds/

FFS

Can you 'detain' a bike? Surely it should be 'confiscated' or something like that.

Deliciously, she rides for a team called 'Kleur op Maat ("bespoke colour")--Nodrugs'. Perhaps they should rename that to 'no drugs or engines'.

For those who want to read the Sporza coverage in the original language:

Sven Nys is shocked:
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/veldrijden/1.2559921

Longish description of the race included here:
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/veldrijden/1.2559655

Patrick Lefevere demands a life ban:
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/veldrijden/1.2559830

And, to my shame, I've only just learned that 'cyclo-cross' is "veldrijden" in Dutch--'field riding'.

Anyway, no pictures of the offending device yet, so it hasn't happened. Full Internet condemnation can follow then. :)

This is all rather good:

Meanwhile Van den Driessche’s father has, predictably, insisted upon her innocence.

“It’s not Femke’s bike,” he claimed to De Staandard. “The bike was in the pit but it is [belonging to] someone from her entourage, who sometimes trains with her. But it was never the intention that it would be raced.

“Femke has absolutely not used that bike during the race. We are strongly affected by the events. Femke is totally upside down about it.

“We also do not know what ‘technical fraud’ means. But if the intention was to cheat, would you still ride that bike? Femke has been European and Belgian Champion. Why would you do in the world championships?”

His words will likely be viewed with some scepticism, as her brother is currently serving a ban for EPO.

amazing

To what extent can we speculate wether this is an isolated incident or not?

a) It sounds like a relatively sophisticated bit of kit for a relatively unknown rider. Perhaps there are darker forces approaching riders on the margins of media focus (i.e. U23, CX, etc.) and using them to test out kit with a view to marketing it to potentially high earning road riders once they know it works?

b) It is a one-off incident which came around as the extreme consequence of what sounds like a possibly unhealthy dad-daughter relationship?

One of the selling points for these little motors (as I've read a couple of times) is that they allow weaker riders to join club rides and not slow down others or get dropped. So if the bike does belong to a friend who she trains with, the excuse offered is entirely plausible and, I hope, true.

I can't imagine pro-teams chancing it, and I think it would be impossible for riders to do something like this to a bike without their teams/mechanics knowing.

One can hope.

Your faith in the goodness of human nature is heart warming.

Sadly, in this case I think it's misplaced.

Plausable, but highly unlikely.

A bike, exactly to match hers, has a motor in it and is in the pits at the very highest level of the sport. Because a cyclocross pit is not chaotic enough without all your family and friends adding their bikes to the maelstrom.

Given how easy they are to detect I doubt we'll see anyone trying to use these again, at least at a high level. Does seem like the sort of thing which could effect lower level races though. If someone's prepared to risk their health and reputation through biological doping I'm sure they'd be up for installing an engine in their bike.

A bike, exactly to match hers, has a motor in it and is in the pits at the very highest level of the sport. Because a cyclocross pit is not chaotic enough without all your family and friends adding their bikes to the maelstrom.

I imagined she was using the bike because she had mechanical issues with her own. But you guys are probably right.

Does anyone have a link to such a product that one could buy?
I've clicked around on the interwebs and it seems the technology is more mature than I initially thought.

Competitions aside, I like the idea of being able to retrofit motors to a bike you currently own, to enable older riders to continue commuting trough periods of ill health for example.

She would have a fleet of race bikes at that level.

Competitions aside, I like the idea of being able to retrofit motors to a bike you currently own, to enable older riders to continue commuting trough periods of ill health for example.

e-bikes, non? You can convert a bog standard bike with a motorised hub and a battery. Doesn't need to be all stealth like these tech fraud setups.

From an FT article a couple of weeks ago: "the motors and batteries, manufactured by an Austrian company called Vivax, can already be bought through numerous dealers in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands."

It's not cheap though: http://www.vivax-assist.com/en/produkte/vivax-assist-4-0/vivax-assist_4-0.html