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1) Really, who cares if she did/didn't use the bike. The bigger news here is clear. If this technology ended up in a *cyclocross* bike (the bastard child of road racing), under a *woman* (who generally get less support) in the *U23* category (where again resources are further stripped down) you can bet your ass this sort of thing is rampant elsewhere. THAT is the news here. For such a bike to even exist is enough evidence for yet another black eye for a completely ass backwards sport. How long has this gone on? By whom? Barring an important rider coming out and just telling us what happened, we'll likely never know...
2) Is it in downhill? Probably not. But anyone who thinks it wouldn't work due to the beating the bikes take is lying to themselves. (see, the specialized Levo stuff). Anyone who thinks it wouldn't matter too is lying to themselves. Its not going to be nearly as severe of an advantage as it would be in endurance oriented sports but there is no question it could take a top 10 finisher and make them the outright winner. Again, however, I highly doubt its ever been in any sort of DH racer's "toolkit". The teams just don't matter enough. Road racing teams are an entirely different animal comapred to DH/gravity teams. the riders are pawns whereby you are do as you are told or are replaced. The incentives are placed in such a way that there is reason, and money, to undergo this sort of scam. In DH, the incentives are lined up, nor would it be as easily manipulated, as it is is in road. Clear as mud? Sorry...I have a tendency to ramble.
3) At first I chalked this up to "more roadies cheating". Then I started thinking about it. Mechanical "doping" is a whole other level of cheating than injecting yourself with something. Why? Well...doping (the biological kind) can be argued as a grey area under a certain ethical lens. Where the hypobaric oxygen tent ends and EPO begins can be a hairs difference (with respect to red blood cell count) under the microscope lens...one is cheating whereas another isn't, sure, but end of the day its still testing the limits of the human body. Limits the rider has to live with later in life. Mechanical doping? Its just plain cheating on a level where commitment, dedication etc (which you still need when doping) all of a sudden don't matter. Put a big enough motor/battery and even I could win a stage in the tour
Gross.
Either UCI botched this big time by testing at the wrong time which enabled the excuses to even be considered, or there's information we don't have. At any rate, I agree with westeast that there would be an easy way to either say "the bike you raced on was illegal" or "the bike you are about to race on is illegal" before there can be any supposed confusion in the pits. It seems like a slam dunk if they come down hard on Femke and implement a better testing policy.
Totally agree with you on the other points.
Subjectively, I don't think there is a user of Vital that says "UCI, oh, those are some good common sense dudes". As Sponsel pointed out, even their headquarters looks like a Dr. Evil layer...
Turn down the volume, slo-mo for some reason.
Don't want to put in the honest hard work to earn a win? Must win now and at all cost? Don't give a sh#t about anyone else? Don't consider whether it's fair or ethical? Then cheat!
Don't want to put in the honest hard work to earn a wage and buy something? Must have that thing you 'need' now and at any cost? Don't give a sh#t about anyone else? Don't consider whether it's fair or ethical? Then steal!
People like this p#ss me off so much!
http://www.corriere.it/sport/16_aprile_17/scandalo-bici-col-motorino-tu…
250w BB motor & 25w hub motors, Custom made by Stephano Varjas are about $11,300 to about $28,200, depending on features. “If you have this system, you can stay with the group, but nobody hears it, nobody sees it, nobody knows about it”. He said that he did not know if the motors were also used in races for cheating. But he added that he believed that some kinds of carbon fiber, the material used to make pro bikes, could render the technology invisible to the UCI's new screening devices. - paraphrased from the article
Seems like another case of the top teams being one step ahead of the UCI's testing, with a fraction of the cheating riders being detected and only the low budget ballers get picked up on the radar. I wonder if any big MTB teams have "tested" this stuff out.
Picture with the thermal imaging camera came from this documentary by sport french TV magazine, and they met an italian retired rider built all the motors you could imagine to cheat . . . President of the UCI has been interviewed also in this documentary, sorry no subtitles.
Maybe you guys can try to understand something with the automatic subtitles. Very interesting doc, but also very alarming
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