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Tour de France To Use Thermal Cameras To Spot Cheats (npr.org)
An anonymous reader writes: At this year's Tour de France, thermal cameras and various other tools will be used to detect "mechanical doping." The image tests can be done anywhere and their locations will not be publicized, according to officials. NPR reports: "As far back as at least 2010, accusations have flown that elite cyclists were turning in superhuman performances with the help of motors that are hidden inside their bike's seat tube. Commercial versions of such devices can provide a steady power stream of around 200 watts -- the lower range of a pro cyclist's average output in a stage race. They can also be set to assist riders automatically if their pedaling cadence falls below a certain threshold. Tour de France officials explain how the detection system will work: 'Developed by the CEA (the French Atomic Energy Commission), the method consists of using a thermal imaging camera capable of detecting mechanical anomalies on the riders' bikes. The checks can be made in the race and on the side of the roads.'"
What metal? Road racing bikes are all carbon fiber now.
If we gonna pretend to try to stop all of the cheating in professional sports we might as well do away with professional sports.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Yes. I see it done almost everyday. I'm a b pressure welder and the only way to test pipe welds without destroying the pipe itself is with xray or ultrasonic testing.
Keep on pretending like you know what you're talking about though.
No Tour de France bicycle has steel tubing.
You are welcome on my lawn.
You are kidding right? It doesn't look for just cracks. Different strength sources and exposure tes are used depending on the alloy on the thickness of the metal. They take an xray that does the entire welds from the root pass to the cap. Thickest I've seen shot is an inch and a half. They have the ability to detect cracks, porosity, lack of fusion, pin holes, slag entrapment, undercut on the INSIDE of the pipe, double bead, hollow root, excessive penetration, and a few other things.
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. But please keep on pretending like you do.
I have no doubt that every cyclist who can afford such a motor is using one.
They can all afford it, and I suspect almost none of them are using a motor.
Doping, on the other hand, is rampant. And very little of it is ever caught.
Has any other sport ever been associated so much with cheating as cycling? It really is getting ridiculous.
But, but, I Soviet Russia, we get barred from the Olympic Games.
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Not quite right. UCI sets a minimum weight of a bike (6.8 kg), but enough technologies exist to make bicycles much lighter than that. If you don't want to compete, you can build a 3.38 kg bicycle, which is half the minimum weight. There are full suspension mountain bikes that come close to the UCI limit FFS. You won't be able to feel the motor inside one of these.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Pretty sure that thermal imaging would be highly effective in detecting pants on fire.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
you shouldnt let your phone drink whiskey.
Why not make them display what they use? That way we'd at least get to see what stuff works.
At what point would they do this, exactly? And what would keep them from swapping out the bike before/after?
I get a feeling that a lot of the people commenting on this article have never actually watched professional cycling. They all say "the bike" like there's only one bicycle in use here; in fact, multiple types of bikes are used, as well as multiple instances of each bike. Watch the support cars; you'll see spare wheels and even entire spare bikes on some of them. So playing a shell game whereby you swap an inspected bike out with one that hasn't been checked...and then, before the finish line, swap them back again...would be relatively simple.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Personally, I think they should do away with team cars. There's too much furniture on the road anyway, and things are getting unsafe. Have neutral service cars with spare wheels, which are pretty much all compatible at this point.
If your whole frame breaks, or some other crucial part such that you need a new bike, they should just be forced to take a neutral service bike so they can finish the stage, but I don't see much reason why somebody should feel the need to win the stage if their bike breaks half way through the stage. Note that it has happened that somebody went on to win the stage on a teammate's bike that was the wrong size.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
I've seen a lot of tour bikes, and I don't think I've ever seen a single TdF bike that had a single piece seat tube. You might be more likely to see something like that in a triathlon like the IronMan, where the rules are quite a bit more relaxed on what they can do with their bikes. Pro road riders want millimeter accuracy of the seat height on the bike, and if the entire seat tube was a single piece, a different bike would have to b e made specifically for each rider, which is not how things are done. They may get a custom paint job, but the actual frames they are riding are the same ones you and I can go buy in the store if you have the cash.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Especially the collisions!
Ezekiel 23:20
"Mechanical doping" reminds me of the infamous 1973 Soap Box Derby cheat.
I have a simple solution for all of this: you get one bike to finish the stage, and whatever tools and parts you can carry with you. That's it.
If your bike breaks and you can't fix it yourself on the side of the road with the tools you're carrying, you don't finish, or you can walk.
This whole idea of having support cars and spare bikes just defeats the whole point of cycling. If you're in a car race and your engine blows up, you don't get to swap out to another car. So why should you get to swap out to another bike? When I'm taking a long-distance trip on my bike, if it breaks, I better have the tools with me to fix it or else I'm walking, unless I'm lucky enough to be near a bike shop (not likely). The only support car they should have in this race is a truck that picks up failed riders and their broken bikes who decide to throw in the towel.