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First Hidden Electric Motor In Cycling World Championship (cxmagazine.com)

Posted by timothy on from the thumb-on-the-scale dept.

An anonymous reader writes with the story that the world championship cyclocross competition this weekend in Zolder (Belgium) was scandalized by the first case of "mechanical doping." European champion Femke Van Den Driessche was caught with a bicycle with a hidden electric motor. From the article: The Union Cycliste Internationale said in a statement âoethat pursuant to the UCIâ(TM)s Regulations on technological fraud a bike has been detained for further investigation following checks at the Womenâ(TM)s Under 23 race of the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. This does not concern any of the riders on the podium. Further details will be shared in due course.â

The Belgian media outlet Sporza reported that the Belgian Cycling Federation had confirmed that the detained bike belonged to Van den Driessche. Ironically, Van den Driessche had abandoned the race due to a mechanical issue shortly before the bike was scrutinised. Van den Driesscheâ(TM)s name did not feature in the official results on the UCI website on Saturday evening. Cyclocross Magazine adds some details.

10 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. What's the deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why does cycling attract so much cheating?

    Is it just more publicized than that in other sports? I mean, you don't hear about cheating nearly as much in other "sports" where they depend upon mechanical equipment... Nascar, F1, MotoGP, etc...

    You'd think that Bill Belichick were the coach...

    1. Re:What's the deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      it's one sport where physical attributes correlates almost 1:1 with performance. Like a wide receiver could dope in order to run faster but if he still can't catch the ball, what good does that do

    2. Re: What's the deal... by George_Ou · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A pro competitor at Tour de France averages 450 watts. Casual fit rider averages 220. That means having a mere half a horse power would let the casual rider win the Tour de France though you likely wouldn't be able to put in that much battery capacity for the entire ride unless you swapped the battery along the way. For competitive riders, just having a 100 watt motor that can turn on 10 minutes is enough to go from last place to first.

    3. Re:What's the deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Cyclist racer here. It's because the checks are stricter than any other sport. The doping controls are stricter and less excuses are accepted

      Dont fool yourself, the level of cheating is probably worse in just about any other pro sport. It's more cycling after a few dead riders got more serious about catching em.

    4. Re: What's the deal... by George_Ou · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Regen on flat pedaling is stupid and goes along the lines of a perpetual motion machine. Much of the energy you pedal into the motor is lost in the form of heat and you won't get out what you put in. Reg on downhill would work and you don't need a more complex motor. All Brushless DC motors can regen when they're being forced to turn.

  2. Any pictures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Or, is this story not true since Van den Driessche is like the Hillary Clinton of woman's bike racing. People keep attacking her and accusing her of things with no proof. With no proof.

  3. Re:Nitpicking by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember plenty of Slashdot blurbs that consisted of several sentences lifted directly from the article, but giving no credit to TFA. Where I teach, that would be considered a case of representing someone else's words as yours, which is straightforward plagiarism, and gets you an unpleasant appointment with an assistant dean. So even though this execution isn't flawless, at least it clearly distinguishes the words of the blurb author and the article author. I consider that a huge step forward for Slashdot.

  4. Re:How much would it help? by Shinobi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One system mentioned has an effect of about 110W, with either 60 or 90 minute battery, total package weight with 60 minute battery is 1,8kg, with battery and motor all hidden away, wireless activation button etc.And yes, it can be disengaged.

    Ironically, it's on the mountain stages it'd really help. 0.148hp for a total of 60 minutes during a stage can help you build a massive lead spread over a few climbs.

    Also, look at some suspected motorized cheating like Fabian Cancellara in Roubaix-Flaanderen for example.

    Links:
    http://cyclingtips.com/2015/04...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  5. Re:First? by Shinobi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, a better example of highly suspicious and quite likely to be motor assisted cheating is Fabian Cancellara in Roubaix-Vlaanderen in the second part of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  6. Cheating in other sports is part of the game by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And the cheating is so institutionalized that it has to be egregious before it becomes a problem.

    Most team sports have this thing called a "penalty" or a "foul" where the offending team gets some small penalty or the offended team some small advantage -- fouls in basketball, the yellow flag in football, penalty box in hockey, balk in baseball.

    There's just so much attempted cheating they've just made it part of the game -- intentional fouls are part of the late-minute strategy in basketball to stop the clock. In hockey, it's actually against the rules to beat the shit out of an opposing player yet it too is (although less so now) part of the game, down to "the enforcer" each team hires to intimidate members of the other team, up to and including beating the shit out of them once in a while.

    In those sports only the most outrageous cheating becomes a scandal, like illegal hits in hockey that put someone in the hospital, hard fouls in basketball that result in an ejection or deflating the football (which, IMHO, couldn't have provided the advantage relative to the BFD it caused).