A detailed investigation into mechanical doping by French television programme Stade 2 and Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has claimed that hidden motors are being used in professional road races.
Thierry Vildary and Marco Bonarrigo reveal that they used an expensive heat detector to spot hidden motors at both the Strade Bianche race in Tuscany and the Coppi e Bartali stage race. The full investigation was broadcast on Sunday evening on French television during the Stade 2 programme, with key details revealed in Sunday’s edition of Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy.
The two-page article in Corriere della Sera claims that the heat detector – which was disguised to look a video camera, managed to spot seven different motors being used at Strade Bianche and the Coppi e Bartali races. Five were hidden in the seat tube, with two hidden in the rear hub and cassette. The newspaper report and Stade 2 video report did not name any riders involved. However the French report- which lasted more than 20 minutes, recalled the numerous suspicions and accusations of mechanical doping that have emerged in recent years.
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Vildary and Bonarrigo also talked to Hungarian engineer Istvan Varjas, the alleged creator of the hidden motors and suspected supplier to a number of professional riders. Varjas showed an early rudimentary version of a motor and admitted it may have been used as early as 1998. He suggested that it best worked with an extremely high cadence.
Varjas explained that the latest version of the hidden motors are just five centimetres long, of light weight but able to produce an adjustable amount of power of up to 250 watts. They can drive the bottom bracket or the cassette and are described as ‘perfect for athletes with high pedal cadence.”
Varjas also confirmed that the most advanced form of mechanical doping is now hidden in carbon fibre rims, with neodymium magnets able to produce 60 watts of power. The wheels can be activated and modulated via a bluetooth device – even an expensive watch which has bluetooth – and can only be detected via a powerful magnetic field detector.
- What is mechanical doping?
- Electromagnetic wheels are the new frontier of mechanical doping, claims Gazzetta dello Sport
- LeMond: The UCI should use a heat gun to detect motors
- UCI confirms motorised doping uncovered at cyclo-cross World Championships
- UCI test Froome, Contador and Pinot bikes on Alpe d'Huez for mechanical doping
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