Thermal cameras will be used to detect mechanical doping at the Tour de France this year after the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) provided the technology at the request of the French Ministry for Sport.
Thierry Braillard, the Minister of State for Sport, announced the measure at a press conference in Paris on Monday morning, which was also attended by UCI President Brian Cookson, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and French Cycling Federation President David Lappartient.
The CEA thermal camera is portable and can be used either aboard of a motorbike or from the side of the road. The new technology will be used in conjunction with the UCI’s existing magnetic resonance screening for motors, which is carried out using iPads at stage starts and finishes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Lappartient noted that the CEA thermal camera had already been used during the French national championships this week and claimed that he was satisfied with its efficacy. "These tests were conclusive. Even a stopped motor could have been detected," Lappartient said, according to AFP.
The new measure was welcomed by Prudhomme, who had already called on the UCI to avail of thermal cameras in testing for mechanical doping, or technological fraud. Reporters from French television programme Stade 2 claimed in April that they had detected suspected cases of mechanical doping by using a thermal camera from the roadside at Strade Bianche and the Settimana Coppi e Bartali. As recently as early June, however, it had appeared that the UCI was reluctant to add thermal imaging to its testing protocol.
“It’s an announcement that should bring us some serenity. The fact that the French government and secretariat of sport have invested and asked the CEA to provide a thermal camera to check for technological fraud, in addition to the measures already put in place by the UCI, is something very important,” Prudhomme told the France Info radio station.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/28W75tP
No comments:
Post a Comment