Cycling: For years, a controversial topic has been moving the cycling scene again and again. It's about motor doping. Many professionals have had to be publicly accused of having gained an advantage with a built-in motor. We look at the allegations and ask you what you think of motor doping in professional cycling.
The allegations began with Fabian Cancellara
Everyone is talking about e-bikes - but not in professional cycling. After all, the cyclists should only fight for victories with their muscle power. After the first e-bikes came onto the market, it wasn't long before motor doping in professional cycling was discussed. The topic first became known to a broad public in 2010, when ex-professional Davide Cassani presented a modified racing bike on Italian television. This scene was then combined with excerpts from Fabian Cancellara at Paris-Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaanderen and uploaded to Youtube. To date, this video has been viewed over five million times. The Swiss Fabian Cancellara rejected all allegations and simply described them as "nonsense!"
The spinning rear wheel of the Ryder Hesjedal
In 2012, Ryder Hesjedal surprisingly won the Giro d'Italia. Around two and a half years later, the Canadian had to listen to similar allegations as Cancellara before him. Supposedly, video footage would prove he used an engine at the 2014 Vuelta a Espana. On the seventh stage he fell on a descent. The bike lying on the ground continued to rotate after the fall. This sequence has a disturbing effect on many viewers. Sport Director Alex Rasmussen then responded with a video showing that continuing to spin the wheel is completely normal in such a situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynLMfzLTc8M
Froome rolls and rolls and rolls...
Every opponent and cycling fan has to admit that Chris Froome could hardly be stopped in the past few years. Some think this could be due to motor doping. Only at the Vuelta a Espana this year was this claim revived. After a mountain finish, Chris Froome mysteriously seems to just keep rolling. Is it going downhill or is it going uphill? How can that be? At first glance, this effortless roll seemed strange, but in the end it turned out that it was probably going downhill at this point and the behavior of Froome's wheel was therefore not exceptional.
All nonsense or danger for cycling?
After cycling is still suffering from its doping past, the scene seems to have improved somewhat. The doping tests are even tougher, the drivers are probably cleaner. With motor doping, however, a new dark chapter in cycling could open up. According to most expert opinions, the three videos shown here are not to be taken seriously. Neither Cancellara nor Hesjedal nor Froome enlisted the help of an engine in this case. Nevertheless, it seems possible to gain an advantage in professional cycling with a hidden motor. But no one has really been caught live in the professional field.
The UCI takes the issue seriously
In January 2016, Belgian cross-country skier Femke Van den Driessche was disqualified from the World Championships and subsequently banned for six years because one of her bikes was found to have a motor on it. What is bizarre, however, is that she did not ride this bike at all in the competition. Furthermore, she and her training partner claim that it is his bike. The engine was installed so that he could train with her. However, all attempts did not help. Van den Driessche was banned and ended her career – at the age of 19. In July of this year there was also the first case of motor doping in road racing. At an amateur race in Italy, a 53-year-old noticed that his bike suddenly started to smoke. Either way, the topic must be taken seriously by the UCI, the teams and the drivers. Because not all problems always go away by themselves.