Competitive cycling has been rocked by the discovery of a motor concealed in a bike at the world cyclo-cross championships in Belgium on Saturday, the first high-profile discovery of its kind. The UCI, the sport’s governing body, confirmed the news.
The Belgian cyclist Femke Van Den Driessche has been reported to have been riding the bike but has denied that the bike that was seized was in fact hers, insisting it belonged to a friend. It remains unclear if the UCI seized the bike immediately after the under-23s race, from which Van Den Driessche retired with a mechanical problem, or whether the bike was taken from a racing compound.
The governing body continues to investigate the bike but has said it is vigilant over fears of mechanical doping in the sport.
1. What is mechanical doping?
Mechanical doping refers to the practice of small motors being hidden in the frame of a bike, to gain an advantage. It is banned in competitive cycling and the UCI has acknowledged it is a problem the governing body is determined to fight. Greg LeMond, twice winner of the Tour de France, has shown how easy it can be to conceal and activate a motor in a racing bike.
If used at the right time during a race even a small motor can provide a critical burst of power and speed.
Random controls for mechanical doping have been carried out since problems first surfaced in 2010.
The offence is officially termed “technological fraud” and carries a minimum six-month suspension and a fine of between 20,000 and 200,000 Swiss francs (£13,600-£136,000).
2. What technology is out there?
No one knows exactly. However, the existence of power units for commuter and utility bikes such as the Vivax Assist has given rise to the belief that smaller, less powerful systems could easily be developed and used along the same lines by those who wish to cheat competitively.
The Vivax Assist comprises a motor drive that slides into the seat tube and along with a small external battery is only 22cm in size and weighing what is claimed to be 1.8kg. A push of a button on the handlebar triggers the motor to summon extra power. Nonetheless even this size would be easily distinguishable on a competitive bike.
But experts believe similar technology could have been developed to allow motors to be hidden in any of the downtube, seat-tube or hub and drive the back wheel. A battery could be disguised in the seat-tube or a water bottle and activated from an easily disguised button on the handlebars.
3. How difficult is it to detect?
Observers have previously discounted widespread use of motors in competitive cycling because of the need for a bulky external battery pack. But reduction in size and the capacity to entirely conceal motors and batteries within the frame of a bike means the UCI has to do more random checks with better detection equipment.
4. How great an advantage can it potentially provide?
Motors can give riders a possible speed boost of about 4-5km/h for up to an hour. The Vivax Assist theoretically allows riders to gain 200 watts of pedalling power for between 60 and 90 minutes depending on the power of the external battery.
In reality, around 110 watts are actually provided and given smaller motors would need to be used to conceal the battery pack, the power delivered would be correspondingly reduced and delivered over a shorter timeframe. However, with margins in cycling becoming smaller than ever even a slight advantage could be crucial.
5. What is the UCI doing about the problem?
The UCI has increased the number of random checks on bikes at high-profile events and introduced the suspension and fine for technological fraud last year.
The governing body has previously used a custom x-ray machine and small cameras to search for anything inside bicycles. Its head of off-road racing, Peter Van Den Abeele, said that the governing body had been testing a new detection system, although neither he nor Brian Cookson, the UCI’s president, was prepared to elaborate on the trials for fear of alerting the cheats.
An image was posted on Instagram over the weekend by the Belgian journalist Renaat Schotte appearing to show an official checking a bike for concealed technol
ogy with a hand-held tablet.
