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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.

23 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 MasterOfGoingFaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because a tiny increase in power makes a huge difference in results. In F1, a 1 HP difference is not noticeable. In cycling, 1 HP makes you faster than a fully dopped Lance Armstrong in his prime.

      --
      Place nail here >+
    3. Re:What's the deal... by linforcer · · Score: 3, Informative

      She. Not only does summary mention that this is the "Women's under 23", amusingly her first name is Femke which literally means "girl" or "little woman" (see French "femme")

    4. 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.

    5. Re:What's the deal... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Funny

      Motorized curling, perhaps.

      I'd actually get up at 3am to watch curling with jet fuel powered stones.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. 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.

    7. Re: What's the deal... by George_Ou · · Score: 3, Informative

      If they can fit battery, brushless controllers, and BLDC motors in a tiny 4 oz RC/Drone, they sure as hell can hide it inside a bike. A 100 watt ESP (Electronic Speed Control) can be extremely tiny and cheap. Do a quick search on Google or Hobbyking.

    8. Re:What's the deal... by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is it just more publicized than that in other sports?

      Yes, it is. As a semi-professional swimmer, I am thankful no one has caught on my methane powered propulsion system yet.

    9. Re: What's the deal... by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

      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

      For those weak at the unit conversion, there's a nice rhyme for remembering it.

      In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two,
      Columbus sailed the ocean blue,
      Divide the year of his voyage by two,
      And you get the number of Watts in a horsepower.

    10. Re: What's the deal... by George_Ou · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Again, using human power to turn a generator to fill a battery is a fool's errand. You're better off doing opportunistic regeneration on downhill and letting the person rest. Forcing a rider to output an extra 50 watts so that you can collect 30 watts in the battery is just idiotic. But the point was that even without regeneration, a single 26550 battery @ 98 gram and a 100 watt motor @ 50 grams is more than enough to win a race.

  2. More details... by bluescrn · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's some pics here showing how such a motor can be concealed surprisingly well:

    http://cyclingtips.com/2015/04...

    1. Re:More details... by Shinobi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Read the fucking article he linked. It's clearly stated. As for the worth of it, that would depend on the stage. 110W, as referenced in that article, equates to about 0.148 horsepower and would definitely make up for the addition of a bit of extra weight on a stage with a lot of climbing.

    2. Re:More details... by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 4, Informative

      To give the power (wattage) a little more context: typical pros can average 400-500w over an hour. If someone could add 110w to that, it's a massive gain. It can turn someone with mediocre fitness into a 'champion'. It can make the difference for a successful breakaway for sure. And at the very least, it will save a ton of energy. A famous cycling quote goes along the lines of 'it's not who's fastest who wins, it's who has the most energy at the end who wins'. It's pretty significant. (Also worth noting: the average person can average 100-150w over an hour.)

  3. nascar has If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin' by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    nascar has a saying If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'.

    Same things happens in lot's of other sports if you give some one 5 inches they will try to push it to 10 when the ref is not looking.

  4. Re:First? by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Different rider, but look what happens to the bike after the fall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  5. Re:News for nerds? by ShaunC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ItÃ(TM)s a good story to demonstrate SlashdotÃ(TM)s lack of Unicode support. ThatÃ(TM)s a nerdy issue!

    --
    Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  6. 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.

  7. Re:How much would it help? by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 4, Informative

    The bikes are about 16-18lbs. Even with the motor, just FYI. This technology already exists and you can read about it here: http://cyclingtips.com/2015/04/hidden-motors-for-road-bikes-exist-heres-how-they-work/

    This thing can put out 110w over an hour. And it would help over an hour, for sure. The average pro can put out 400-500w over an hour. Add 110w to that? It's HUGE. It could put mediocre pros on the podium.

    It's worth reading the article, there's a lot more to it too...her brother was also caught doping EPO. And claims it was her 'friends' bike...that just happened to get brought into the race. All pretty shady stuff.

  8. 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?...

  9. 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?...

  10. Re:Simple solution, 100% effective by Goonie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The insides of a bike frame are extremely simple - they're just tubes - and the mechanical components in the frame (the "bottom bracket") comes in only a few standard designs. Any plausible motor and battery is going to be big enough to stick out like a sore thumb. So X-Raying would work, as would pointing an IR camera at the bike detect the motor in operation. You can't hide that much waste heat in that small an area. As for stock bikes, nice idea, but not practical. At the elite level (and even at the serious recreational level) riders often spend a lot of time and money customizing the fit of their bikes. Furthermore, much of the sport's funding comes from equipment manufacturers who would be more than a little peeved if athletes weren't using their expensive gear.

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  11. 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).