Motor doping

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term motor doping (also known as e-doping , English mechanical doping ) describes a method of accelerating racing bikes with the help of a miniature motor in bike races.

history

In mid-May 2010 rumors surfaced that auxiliary engines had been used in professional races to help the drivers pedal, so-called motor doping . With the help of a miniature motor, a driver can save valuable energy for the finale for two to three hours during a stage.

In May 2010, a YouTube video suggested that the Swiss Fabian Cancellara had won the Tour of Flanders and Paris – Roubaix with the help of a small motor that was built into the seat post of his bicycle and that he could activate at the push of a button. Michele Bufalino, the author of the video, was referring to a report by the Italian television station RAI , in which the sports journalist and former racing driver Davide Cassani pointed out the possibility of such "motor doping". Bufalino stated that he did not accuse Cancellara of such manipulation, but indicated with arrows that Cancellara's hand movements were suspicious in his view. Bike changes during the race did not take place because of defects, but rather served to insert new batteries or to ensure that the drive was not discovered at the finish. The allegations, which Jacky Durand also joined, were contradicting itself : it was said that the engine kept a drive that lasted several minutes; According to another version, it was only a few seconds short but all the more intense. Cancellara called the allegations absurd and the matter soon petered out. However , Cassani later admitted to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) that the battery must have been housed in a drinking bottle due to its size.

The UCI initially stated in May 2010 that it had no evidence of motor doping. However, after other experts had admitted the possibility of such a manipulation of racing bikes, the UCI decided to use scanners at the Tour de France 2010 in order to track down engines possibly hidden in the bikes.

After initially talking about only checking suspicious bikes, the UCI announced at the beginning of July that it would check a certain number of riders at each stage arrival. The number of checks will depend on the type of stage and the nature of the route. There could be five or 15 drivers. If manipulation by an electric motor is detected, the bike will be confiscated and the rider concerned will be excluded from the race. After the end of the tour, nothing was officially known about the result of these controls, but also nothing about the fact that a manipulated bike had been discovered. At the world championships in cyclo-cross races , the wheels of the first three riders were checked for auxiliary systems.

In mid-June 2010, the Italian judiciary initiated an investigation based on a complaint from the Italian team owner Ivano Fanini ( Amore e Vita ) . However, nothing is publicly known about the results of this investigation or about the tests carried out by the UCI. The entire discussion about the existence of the alleged motor doping then fizzled out.

In the course of reporting in 2010, the Danish cyclist René Wenzel described that his Belgian colleague Willy De Bosscher had already won the elimination run of the six-day race in Grenoble in 1979 on a Vélo à moteur . When the other drivers found out, they wanted to beat him up, which Belgian six-day star Patrick Sercu prevented. Since De Bosscher was known for his clowning in six-day races, it is possible that he meant the use of a motorized bicycle as a joke.

Technical feasibility

The Tyrolean mechanical engineering company Gruber, who has had an ultra-light additional drive for mountain bikes on the market since 2007 , announced in response to press reports that the Gruber Assist and, since 2011, Vivax Assist system, “was not and was not developed as motor doping can be used for this in the racing sector ”. However, experts disagreed with this: With appropriate modifications, the system and batteries can be hidden within the framework of a racing bike.

The former racing driver and head of the technical commission at the British Cycling Federation British Cycling , Chris Boardman stated that he had the world cycling federation UCI in 2009, explains the technology and warned.

Many professionals, among them Linus Gerdemann and Jens Voigt , however, considered the possibility of fraud in this way to be “hardly imaginable or even impossible”. Such an installation would be noticeable based on the weight of a racing bike alone.

In a television documentary on the Dutch program Bureau Sport with the participation of Michael Boogerd , Nico Mattan and Michael Rasmussen , the existence of a system was confirmed that could generate up to 150 watts of additional power.

Since 2015

In 2015, the UCI adapted its regulations and introduced penalties for racing cyclists and cycling teams for motor doping: Drivers are disqualified in the race, a ban of at least six months and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 Swiss francs . The same penalties apply to the teams, with the proviso that the fine is between 100,000 and one million Swiss francs. It is not just the use of the motorized racing machine that is considered illegal in the race, but the provision. After the 18th stage of the 2015 Tour de France , the bikes of the racing drivers Chris Froome , Peter Sagan , Nairo Quintana , Joaquim Rodríguez , Romain Bardet and Pierre Rolland were searched for prohibited engines by commissioners from the UCI; it is said to have been the fourth test during this tour. The UCI had already carried out random checks at the Giro d'Italia 2015 , but all of them were negative.

At the Cyclocross World Championships in January 2016 in Heusden-Zolder , Belgium, the provision of an auxiliary engine on a racing bike was determined for the first time in international cycling championships. The manipulated bike is said to have belonged to a starter in the women's U23 race: according to reports from Belgian co-favorite Femke Van Den Driessche , who gave up the race prematurely. Van den Driessche assured, however, that the bike wasn't hers, which she rode in the race, but that of a friend. The Italian bike manufacturer Wilier Triestina announced legal action against the rider, as the company's reputation had been damaged because of her actions. On April 26, 2016, the UCI announced that Van Den Driessche would be suspended for six years with retroactive effect from October 15, 2015.

The Gazzetta dello Sport reported that motor doping with a hidden auxiliary motor is now outdated. The latest development is a special electromagnetic impeller that provides 20 to 60 watts through metal wires embedded in the CFRP rim. Such an impeller would cost 200,000 euros. No information was given about the energy storage and power transmission.

The President of the UCI, Brian Cookson , announced at the beginning of February 2016 that his association would take “consistent action” against motor doping. Research is being carried out into "minimally invasive" technologies that do not require the wheels to be removed for testing. A few days later, around 90 bikes were checked before the start of the second stage of the Mediterranean Tour , but without any findings.

In April 2016, two journalists - the French Thierry Vildary and the Italian Marco Bonarrigo from Corriere della Sera - said they had used thermal imaging cameras in the Italian races Strade Bianche and the Settimana Internazionale and discovered conspicuous temperature developments on seven wheels. These should indicate the use of small motors.

Before the start of the Giro d'Italia 2016 , the UCI announced that it would search 10,000 to 12,000 bikes for hidden electric motors before and after the race this year. So far, the UCI's method of using a tablet to search for abnormal magnetic resonances that could reveal a motor had been criticized as ineffective . According to UCI boss Brian Cookson, almost one million euros have been invested in developing the tablet method.

In the meantime, various research institutions have also developed special inspection methods and monitoring concepts in order to reliably and non-destructively detect manipulations through the use of hidden auxiliary motors of various types with specialized and easy-to-use test and measurement technology. In spring 2016, the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive Testing presented the media with a number of suitable new technologies as part of the efforts to promote fair cycling in the course of the 2016 Tour de France. Here, too, it is important to be one step ahead of ingenuity with regard to technical manipulations by using suitable detection methods.

At the Tour de France 2017 alone, 4,000 tests were carried out with special laptops, but without any results. According to joint research by the TV channels ARD and France 2 as well as the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera , these tests are not as effective as the UCI claims, because the inspectors are not sufficiently trained. The President of the UEC , David Lappartient , rejected these results: the tablets would work 100 percent.

In autumn 2017, at the French race Grand Prix de Saint-Michel-de-Double, an engine was discovered in the racing bike of a 43-year-old amateur cyclist. His bike had been checked after repeated notices of his outstanding performance, especially uphill. Similar manipulations by an Italian cyclist had already been discovered in July. According to the UCI, all of the riders' bikes were examined for unauthorized aids at the 2018 Tour de France . No abnormalities were detected.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ radsport-news.com: “Motor doping in the peloton?” Accessed on June 21, 2010.
  2. ↑ youtube.com: Bike with engine (doped bike) and Cancellara (Roubaix - Vlaanderen). May 29, 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2010 . (Video).
  3. ↑ Cancellara defends himself against the charge that he won thanks to the engine. Tages-Anzeiger, June 1, 2010, accessed July 27, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Steffen, Gertsch: Fabian Cancellara's world . Pp. 134-136.
  5. ^ A b Tillman Lambert: radsport-rennrad.de: Italian judge determined in "motor affair". June 13, 2010, accessed June 23, 2010 .
  6. ↑ fr-online.de: UCI does not believe in motor assistance - proceedings against Cancellara. June 13, 2010, archived from the original on June 29, 2010 ; Retrieved June 23, 2010 .
  7. ↑ UCI uses scanners at the Tour de France . radsport-news.com, accessed June 19.
  8. ↑ Press release - Second day of the UCI Management Committee meeting ( Memento from January 16, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  9. ↑ UCI: Disqualification in motor doping ( memento of July 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). sportschau.de, July 2, 2010.
  10. ↑ UCI checked for motors in bikes at cyclo-cross Worlds . cyclingnews, February 16, 2014.
  11. ↑ Vélo à moteur: un premier essai en 197 . cyclisme-dopage.com, June 6, 2010.
  12. ↑ radsport-news.com: "Boardman warned UCI about motor doping", accessed on June 21, 2010.
  13. ↑ cyclingnews.com: "Boardman warned the UCI of risks of bike doping", accessed on June 23, 2010.
  14. ↑ radsport-news.com: "Italian judge investigates 'motor doping' affair", accessed on June 21, 2010.
  15. ↑ Bureau Sport: Special . 19th January 2014.
  16. ^ UCI introduces new sanctions against motorized doping. cyclingnews.com, April 29, 2015, accessed April 29, 2015 .
  17. ↑ radsport-news.com - UCI checks bikes from Froome and five other riders. In: radsport-news.com. April 23, 2015, accessed July 24, 2015 .
  18. ^ Case of motor doping: Manipulated bike at Cross World Championship. In: sueddeutsche.de =. January 31, 2016, accessed August 28, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Van den Driessche: It wasn't my bike. In: radsport-news.com. April 23, 2015, accessed January 31, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Wilier Triestina threatens legal action over motorized cross bike. In: Cyclingweekly. February 1, 2016, accessed February 1, 2016 .
  21. ↑ UCI shorst 'motormeisje' Van den Driessche zes jaar. In: NOS. April 26, 2016, accessed April 26, 2016 (Dutch).
  22. ↑ Stephen Farrand: Electromagnetic wheels are the new frontier of mechanical doping, claims Gazzetta dello Sport. In: Cyclingnews. February 1, 2016, accessed February 1, 2016 .
  23. ↑ UCI boss wants to take systematic action against engine doping. In: rad-net.de. February 9, 2016, accessed February 10, 2016 .
  24. ↑ UCI checks 90 bikes for e-doping before the 2nd stage. In: radsport-news.com. February 13, 2016, accessed February 13, 2016 .
  25. ↑ Motor doping at Strade Bianche and Coppi e Bartali? In: radsport-news.com. April 18, 2016, accessed April 18, 2016 .
  26. ↑ Motor doping: UCI plans to examine up to 12,000 bikes in 2016. In: radsport-news.com. April 23, 2015, accessed May 6, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Fraunhofer IZFP: On the trail of hidden motor doping. idw - Informationsdienst Wissenschaft, July 12, 2016, accessed on July 15, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Joachim Logisch: The laptop test against engine doping has major weaknesses. In: radsport-news.com. September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  29. ↑ Amateur cyclist caught with motor in France. In: CyclingTips. October 2, 2017, accessed October 2, 2017 .
  30. ↑ UCI tests over 2800 bikes for engine doping during the tour - no abnormalities. In: rad-net.de. August 1, 2018, accessed August 1, 2018 .