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Motor doping, or mechanical doping, in competitive cycling terminology, is a method of cheating by using a hidden motor to help propel a racing bicycle. The term is an analogy to chemical doping in sport, cheating by using performance-enhancing drugs. As a form of "technological fraud" it is banned by the Union Cycliste Internationale , the international governing body of cycling.
One of the first allegations of mechanical doping goes back to the 2010 Tour of Flanders when Fabian Cancellara attacked Tom Boonen on a steep part of Kapelmuur whilst unusually seated, leading to allegations that there was an electric motor hidden in Cancellara's bike. [1] Four years later the issue was raised again when Ryder Hesjedal was the subject of allegations of mechanical doping during the 2014 Vuelta a España: Hesjedal crashed on stage seven of the race, and video footage of the crash showed his bicycle's rear wheel continuing to spin after it had fallen onto the road, leading to a number of media outlets including the website of French sports newspaper L'Equipe questioning whether the bike contained a motor, although it was suggested by Cycling Weekly that the bicycle's movement could have simply been due to it sliding on a downward gradient. [2] Public pressure on the UCI led to the race commissaires examining the bikes of Hesjedal's Garmin–Sharp team the following morning: no motors were found. [3] The following spring, checks for bike motors were carried out at Paris–Nice, Milan–San Remo, and the Giro d'Italia. [4]
In January 2016 – almost six years after initial allegations of a pro cyclist doping mechanically – the first confirmed use of "mechanical doping" in the sport was discovered at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships when one of the bikes of Belgian cyclist Femke Van den Driessche was found to have a secret motor inside. [5] [6] [7] [8] One blogger described it as the worst scandal in cycling since the doping scandal that engulfed Lance Armstrong in 2012. [9]
Van den Driessche and her accomplice broke an eight year silence to speak with the podcast series Ghost in the Machine [10] in 2024, revealing that they had experienced death threats, closed down their business and were forced to flee Belgium for their safety. The documentary also highlighted several other alleged cases of mechanical fraud and the UCI's inconsistent and irregular testing systems. The notorious inventor of concealed motors Stefano Varjas was also visited in Budapest. The podcast was recognised as one of the top five podcasts in 2024 by Vulture [11]
Some sources claim that motorized doping has occurred before in professional cycling, but that it has gone undetected or unproven. It is seen as part of a larger effort by athletes in many sports to gain mechanical advantage in competition. [12] In May 2010 former rider Davide Cassani demonstrated a motorised bicycle on the Italian public broadcaster RAI, claiming that similar bikes had been used by some professional cyclists since 2004. [13] The discovery of a motor resulted in a substantial uptick in the level of scrutiny focused on bikes. The UCI has indicated it intends to expend €40,000 to 50,000 to purchase scanning equipment. [14] [15] The UCI has used a tablet with an app that detects disruptions in magnetic fields that are caused by a motor or battery hidden in a bike frame. [16]
The federation's technological fraud article 12.1.013 fully states:
"Technological fraud is an infringement to article 1.3.010. Technological fraud is materialised by:
"The presence, within or on the margins of a cycling competition, of a bicycle that does not comply with the provisions of article 1.3.010. The use by a rider, within or on the margins of a cycling competition, of a bicycle that does not comply with the provisions of article 1.3.010. All teams must ensure that all their bicycles are in compliance with the provisions of article 1.3.010. Any presence of a bicycle that does not comply with the provisions of article 1.3.010, within or on the margins of a cycling competition, constitutes a technological fraud by the team and the rider. All riders must ensure that any bicycle that they use is in compliance with the provisions of article 1.3.010. Any use by a rider of a bicycle that does not comply with the provisions of article 1.3.010, within or on the margins of a cycling competition, constitutes a technological fraud by the team and the rider.
Any technological fraud shall be sanctioned as follows:
- Rider: disqualification, suspension of a minimum of six months and a fine of between CHF 20,000 and CHF 200,000.
- Team: disqualification, suspension of a minimum of six months and a fine of between CHF 100,000 and CHF 1,000,000."
In pertinent part, the technical regulation plainly states:
"The bicycle shall be propelled solely, through a chainset, by the legs (inferior muscular chain) moving in a circular movement, without electric or other assistance." [17]
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| Date | Cyclist | Penalty | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2016 |  Femke Van den Driessche | 6 year ban & CHF 20,000 fine [18] [19] | U23 Cyclo-cross World Championships |
| March 2017 | Unnamed Amateur Cyclist | Disqualified & 5-year ban | French Amateur Road Race |
| June 2019 | Stefano Varjas | Lifetime ban from competitions | Investigation of motor supply to cyclists |
| September 2020 | Roberto Galleti | 3-year suspension | Italian Gran Fondo Event |
| October 2021 | Erik Hamish | 4-year ban & €15,000 fine | Swiss National Time Trial Championships |
The UCI says that it has a new device which will reveal the existence of electrical circuitry, armatures, batteries, etc., which are where they are not supposed to be. [20] [21] For the 2016 Tour de France, thermal cameras were used to detect hidden motors. [22] The UCI carried out a total of 10,000 bicycle checks for hidden motors and magnets in 2016, whilst at the 2017 Tour Down Under 132 tests were carried out. [23]
In March 2018, the UCI announced that X-ray cameras would be used in future on Grand Tour stages and classic cycle races, to detect the use of hidden motors. [24]
As of 2024 [update] the magnetic tablet screening process that detected Femke Van den Driessche's hidden motor has also found increasing numbers of amateur riders using concealed motors. However, the UCI president conceded that the screening process is not consistent, and beatable. [25]
French and Italian television have produced documentaries into mechanical fraud, including Stade 2's [26] Thierry Vildary in 2017. CBS, the American broadcaster, aired 60 Minutes Investigation [27] in the same year, alleging that an unnamed Tour de France team bought motors from a Hungarian developer in 1998 for a period of 10 years for US$2m.
The Ghost in the Machine podcast was released in 2024 with seven episodes, then turned into a live investigation. [10]
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Tyler Hamilton is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cyclist in 1995 with the US Postal Service cycling team. He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours de France, where Armstrong won the general classification. He was a key asset for Armstrong, being a very good climber as well as time-trialist. Hamilton appeared at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2004, he won a gold medal at the individual time trial. The first doping test after his Olympic victory gave a positive result, but because the backup sample was frozen, no doping offence could be proven. After he failed further doping tests at the 2004 Vuelta a España, Hamilton was suspended for two years from the sport.
The International Cycling Union is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
A racing bicycle, also known as a road bike is a bicycle designed for competitive road cycling, a sport governed by and according to the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports include artistic cycling, cycle polo, freestyle BMX, mountain bike trials, hardcourt bike polo and cycleball. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the world governing body for cycling and international competitive cycling events. The International Human Powered Vehicle Association is the governing body for human-powered vehicles that imposes far fewer restrictions on their design than does the UCI. The UltraMarathon Cycling Association is the governing body for many ultra-distance cycling races.
Thomas Danielson is an American retired professional road racing cyclist who competed professionally between 2002 and 2015 for the Mercury Cycling Team (2002), the Saturn Cycling Team (2003), Fassa Bortolo (2004), Discovery Channel (2005–2007) and Cannondale–Garmin (2008–2015). He had been suspended twice for doping in his career.
Cofidis is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard, the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault–Elf–Gitane team of the 1980s. The team's sponsor has supported the team despite repeated problems such as doping scandals. After it was part of the UCI ProTour for the ProTour's first five seasons, from 2010 the team competed as a UCI Professional Continental team. The team joined the UCI World Tour for the 2020 season.
Jonathan James Vaughters is an American former professional racing cyclist and current manager of UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost.
This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in cycling, mountain biking, and cycle sport.
Christian Vande Velde is a retired American professional road racing cyclist of Belgian descent, who rode professionally between 1998 and 2013. Vande Velde competed for the U.S. Postal Service, Liberty Seguros, Team CSC and Garmin–Sharp squads. He has been a cycling analyst for NBC Sports since 2014. He is the son of cyclist John Vande Velde.
Eric Ryder Hesjedal is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite world championship in mountain biking. He turned professional with U.S. Postal Service in 2004 after several years with the Rabobank continental team. Having previously finished in fifth place at the 2010 Tour de France, Hesjedal won his first and only Grand Tour at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour win by a Canadian. Other major wins include two stages at the Vuelta a España, the first such stage wins by a Canadian.
EF Education–EasyPost, is an American professional cycling team. Founded in 2003, they have competed in the UCI World Tour since 2009. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, United States, the team maintains an equipment and training facility in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. In 2018, EF Education First, an international education company — founded in Sweden but headquartered and incorporated in Switzerland — purchased a controlling equity stake in Slipstream Sports, the sports management company behind the team. The founder and CEO is American Jonathan Vaughters and the head sporting director is Briton Charly Wegelius.
Cycling in Australia is a common form of transport, recreation and sport. Many Australians enjoy cycling because it improves their health and reduces road congestion and air pollution. The government has encouraged more people to start, with several state advertising campaigns aimed at increasing safety for those who choose to ride. There is a common perception that riding is a dangerous activity. While it is safer to walk, cycling is a safer method of transport than driving. Cycling is less popular in Australia than in Europe, however cyclists make up one in forty road deaths and one in seven serious injuries.
Stefan Denifl is an Austrian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2018 for seven different professional teams. In 2019, Denifl confessed to doping during a five-year period in his career, and was given a four-year ban from the sport; as a consequence of this, Denifl received a two-year sentence in 2021 for serious commercial fraud.
Technology doping is the practice of gaining a competitive advantage using sports equipment. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) considers prohibiting technologies if they are "performance-enhancing" or "being against the spirit of the sport". In 2006, WADA initiated a consultation on technology doping which is now officially recognised as a threat, whilst the decision to allow or ban a new technology, specifically relating to sports equipment, is the responsibility of each sport’s own governing body.
Bicycle law is the parts of law that apply to the riding of bicycles.
Events in the year 2016 in Belgium.
The 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships was the World Championship for cyclo-cross for the season 2015–16. It was held in Heusden-Zolder in Belgium on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31 January 2016. The championships featured five events, in addition to the men's and women's elite races there was a U23 men's and junior men's races, and for the first time, a U23 women's race.
Femke Van den Driessche is a Belgian former cyclo-cross cyclist, mountainbiker and road racing cyclist. As a junior, she became national cyclo-cross champion in 2011 and mountain bike champion in 2013. In 2015, Van den Driessche won the European Cyclo-cross Championships in the women's under-23 category, and in 2016 she became Belgian champion in the same category, but she was later stripped of both titles.
The UCI maintains that its use of a tablet device producing magnetic resistance scans is more effective than "flawed" heat-seeking tests, which it says are only effective if bikes are filmed up close by motorcycles on the road. Rumours of riders using motors have circulated for several years, and were fueled by a French broadcaster last month using thermal imagery.
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