The French National Cycling League, headed by FDJ team manager Marc Madiot, has called on the UCI to carry out systematic controls for mechanical doping, and give life bans to anyone involved.
The Ligue Nationale de Cyclisme represents professional cycling in France and includes representatives from teams, riders and race organisers. In recent weeks the European Cycling Union, headed by UCI Vice-President David Lappartient, the CPA riders Association and even Tour de France organiser ASO have called on the UCI to take further action to combat mechanical doping.
Suspicions of mechanical doping have been in the news since 2010 but the discovery of a hidden motor in a bike apparently prepared for Belgian Under 23 rider Femke Van den Driessche at the recent World Cyclo-Cross championships has confirmed that the technology and desire to cheat are a real threat to the credibillty of professional cycling. Van den Driessche’s case is set to be heard by the UCI’s Disciplinary Commission and she could be banned and fined if found guilty.
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The UCI has since stepped up its bike checks, testing 90 race, and spare bikes from six different teams at the La Méditerranéenne race in the south of France. The UCI inspectors used a blue tablet sensor and checked the frame for hidden motors and the wheels for possible electromagnetic systems that help rotate the wheels. However, there was no sign of bike checks at the Dubai Tour or the Tour of Qatar.
In a letter to UCI president Brian Cookson, Madiot, called on the UCI to “implement all necessary means to immediately stop all attempted fraud.”
“Since the World Championships Cyclo Cross at the end of January 2016, we’ve passed from the stage of suspicion to reality, indeed a bike has become a "motor bike". Our DNA has been affected, it affects the mystique of the riders and our history. Sadly for the press, the bike is now classified in the category of motorsport.” Madiot wrote.
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