Femke Van den Driessche, a 19 year old Belgian teenager who raced the CycloCross Worlds on Sunday was found to have an electric motor in her bike. She claims innocence and that her bike was inadvertently switched with that of a friend. The UCI is looking into what is now being termed “technological doping”. She had a problem with her bike during the race and had to walk during the last lap. The bike was taken for inspection along with others, which is when the motor was found.
Chris Froome says he’s warned the UCI about mechanical doping after hearing rumors about it. He wants the UCI to start regularly checking bikes, which they now intend to do.
“I think they are taking the threat seriously and hopefully this will mean that they only increase the number of checks that they do on the world tour level,” he said.
Last year the penalties for technologial doping were set at a minimum six months’ suspension and a fine of 20,000-200,000 Swiss Francs. The UCI had already introduced bike checks.
Cookson said: “Technological fraud is unacceptable. We want the minority who may consider cheating to know that, increasingly,” he wrote. “There is no place to hide, and sooner or later they will pay for the damage they’re causing to our sport.” “To all the people who want to cheat, yesterday we sent a clear message: we will catch you and we will punish you because our technology to detect such fraud seems to work.”
It’s been reported that Van den Driessche has a brother who is currently suspended for doping.
—
Wilier Triestina, the bike manufacturer, is reported to be threatening legal action against Van den Driessche.
“We work every day to bring worldwide the quality of our products and when we know that a Wilier Triestina bike is meanly tampered with, we’re very sad,” said CEO Andrea Gastaldello in a statement on the manufacturer’s website.
“Our company will take legal action against the athlete and against anyone responsible for this very serious matter, in order to safeguard the good name and image of the company, marked by professionalism and seriousness in 110 years of history.”
