Belgian Rider Found with Hidden Motor at CX Worlds

jeff.brines
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2/1/2016 1:44pm Edited Date/Time 2/1/2016 1:55pm
Couple things to add...

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 Wink

Gross.





2/1/2016 2:45pm
Couple things to add... 1) Really, who cares if she did/didn't use the bike. The bigger news here is clear. If this technology ended up in...
Couple things to add...

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 Wink

Gross.





The suspicion of it has gone on long enough for them to start testing for it. I would argue that all those qualifiers you gave for why this must be prevalent elsewhere might also give insight to why she/they/whoever is to blame thought it would go unnoticed.

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.
jeff.brines
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2/1/2016 2:55pm Edited Date/Time 2/1/2016 2:57pm
The suspicion of it has gone on long enough for them to start testing for it. I would argue that all those qualifiers you gave for...
The suspicion of it has gone on long enough for them to start testing for it. I would argue that all those qualifiers you gave for why this must be prevalent elsewhere might also give insight to why she/they/whoever is to blame thought it would go unnoticed.

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.
One thing I thought about today, and after reading more about how the UCI sort of crumbled to Lance's demands back in the day is that the UCI may be the governing body of cycling, but its also the PR company (image) of cycling. Or at least it has that to protect. Maybe they knew. Maybe they've known. Maybe they've tried to bury it or hide it. Who knows. Its the UCI. A governing body equally as backwards as the sport (road cycling) itself. There is just as much of whatever scandle there may be in road cycling on the UCI's hands as any of the riders or any of the teams. At least in my eyes.

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...
2/1/2016 3:22pm
I used to think motor doping wasn't real and was meant to be a distraction from the fact that traditional doping is still quite rampant. But now? I'm not sure what to think.
Zachariah
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2/1/2016 9:50pm
andyd33 wrote:
So she says she didn't race on it. But her mechanics, thought it was her bike and washed it and put it in the truck. Then...
So she says she didn't race on it. But her mechanics, thought it was her bike and washed it and put it in the truck. Then handed it over to the UCI as her bike? So a pro-mechanic, who spends more hands on time with a bike than the rider often does couldn't tell?! I think she did it and is just rehashing the same tired excuse all cheaters use - "its not mine". The hesjadahl (sorry for the spelling) one also looks really suspicious to me. His bike looks like it stops and then accelerates.

The UCI seems to pay a lot less attention to mountain biking, as do the media. So I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be more prevalent than the roadies. Especially DH.
Sounds like a repeat on COPS...."that ain't my pants, officer!"
sino428
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Hackettstown, NJ US
2/2/2016 11:30am
Varaxis wrote:
Yes, let's not forget how easy it is to wrongly accuse people of "mechanical doping" out of ignorance. That poor guy not only got wrongly accused...
Yes, let's not forget how easy it is to wrongly accuse people of "mechanical doping" out of ignorance. That poor guy not only got wrongly accused, but also had his bike run over (destroyed) by the motorbike (heavy, carrying 2 people).
Yes, the rider in the video couldn't have been using a system like the one pictured above. For the rear wheel to keep spinning like that while the cranks are stationary, the motor would have to me connected directly to the rear wheel, not mounted to in the seatpost connecting to the crank spindle like what is pictured.
xyian
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2/2/2016 5:24pm
That family seriously needs help.
2/3/2016 4:12pm
The criminal charges is no surprise at all. The mindset of stealing is not that far off from cheating. This brother & sister had no chance when they were brought up with a father like that. I would bet every cent I own that she is guilty and will continue to cheat with that family around her.

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!

4/18/2016 8:54pm Edited Date/Time 4/18/2016 9:16pm
NY Times article from today about the mechanical dopings -http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/sports/cycling/with-a-discreet-motor-doping-the-bike-instead-of-the-cyclist.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

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.
4/20/2016 10:22am Edited Date/Time 4/20/2016 10:22am
http://www.francetvsport.fr/videos/video-un-moteur-dans-le-velo-330199


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.
4/20/2016 1:45pm
[url=http://French TV made investigations on Italian races about differents motors inside the frame (3 differents motors available: steadpost to BB, rear and front hub, electromagnetic motor...
http://www.francetvsport.fr/videos/video-un-moteur-dans-le-velo-330199


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.
For some reason I can't open that link. Here is the video on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0s2yo6ws9U&index=1&list=LLcJdWWedbrJ8h…
Maybe you guys can try to understand something with the automatic subtitles. Very interesting doc, but also very alarming
bturman
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4/21/2016 1:11pm
Here are a few video tests to consider. I don't feel like either of them were conducted in a way that provides conclusive data, but worth watching nonetheless.



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