Probably no one was spared by the wave of doping associated with Olympic Games and the Russian team. I did not understand under what flag the athletes who will be allowed to participate in the games will compete. With the history itself, everything is clear - doping is usually a scientific, pharmaceutical and administrative field of struggle. Everyone uses doping, but some pharmacists are better and have a resource of influence in controlling and checking organizations. Therefore, this round was lost outright by Russia. It happens.
But today I learned about one of the types of "mechanical doping". Look here...
Rumors of cyclists using motors have been around since at least 2010. It was then that a video was published that details how to put the motor in the frame, how to control it using a hidden button on the steering wheel and why it is difficult to detect (the video has already gained 4.6 million views). In 2014, at the Vuelta a España, one of the athletes fell, after which rear wheel his bike continued to spin suspiciously, but then there was no big scandal. Indirect evidence gradually became more and more; about the motors inside the bikes started filming big gears.
For the first time, the presence of a motor in a bicycle of a professional athlete was proved at the beginning of 2016. Belgian Femke Van Den Driesche was considered one of the most talented young European cyclists - she won both the title of Belgian under-23 champion and the title of European champion with the same age limit. Femke Van Den Driesche was on the list of favorites for the World Championship (also U-23), but it was during this competition that a motor was discovered in her bike.
Photo from the website of the company involved in the creation of "mechanical doping" for cyclists
We discovered “techno-doping” quite by accident, when the Belgian retired for technical reasons. Before the start of the competition, Femke was considered the favorite.
The analysis showed that there is a hidden motor in the bicycle frame. According to experts, it was used to improve the results of the cyclist. At the same time, the cyclist's father claims that the bike is not hers, but her friend's. They seem to have the same vehicles, and the young man left his bike next to the athlete's truck. The technician decided that it was her bike and prepared it for the competition.
The athlete tried to prove that it was not her bike, but in vain: she was stripped of all titles and prize money, sentenced to a fine and a six-year disqualification.
Rumors of technological doping have been circulating among cyclists since 2010, when athlete Fabian Cancellara was accused of "technological fraud". Then one of the technical experts claimed that a small electric motor with a power of 60 to 100 watts was running in the athlete’s bike. Despite the fact that the motor is low-power, it helped the cyclist to improve the efficiency of work.
Subsequently, the organizers of the world-class cycling championships began to subject the bikes to random screening, using a scanner and a small camera.
Thermal cameras show that several more athletes are under suspicion. Investigations on "mechanical doping" in 2016 began to be carried out not only by specialized organizations, but also by journalists. Thus, the France 2 TV channel and the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera found out that at two races in 2016 in Italy, at least seven athletes were suspected of using a motor. To detect suspicious bicycles, journalists used thermal cameras: the place where the motor is located heats up during operation and cools down when the rider does not need “help”.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) did not use the thermal chamber method for a long time. The UCI believed that in terms of price / quality ratio it is better to use magnetic resonance at the start and finish - according to UCI experts, this method also allows you to find hidden devices inside bicycles. Even after an investigation by Italian and French journalists, officials continued to believe that magnetic resonance worked well.
The Tour de France will still use thermal cameras, and made specifically for the race. They were developed by the French Atomic Energy Commission by order of the government. Cameras can be installed on motorcycles that accompany riders. They are able to detect motors even when not in operation.
After this incident, the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport published a sensational interview with an anonymous person who claims that most of the recognized cyclists use mechanical doping.
According to him, the electric motor under the seat or in the frame of the bike is a thing of the past. The latest developments in the field of illegal modification of sports bikes are electromagnetic wheels, which are capable of:
Generate up to 60W;
- be activated both by the remote control and automatically, when the athlete's pulse rate reaches a certain value.
The inventor, who wished to remain anonymous, states that, despite the huge cost of such wheels - up to 200 thousand euros, those who wish to purchase them are in line for 6 months.
It is noteworthy that the respondent claims that many cyclists use this invention without even knowing it. The fact is that usually orders for electromagnetic wheels come through third parties, probably having their own financial interest in the athlete's victory.
sources
Some believe that some professional riders hide small engines in their bikes.
If you've been following a race, you've probably heard the term mechanical doping, which refers to being able to hide small engines inside your bikes in order to boost power. Doping is doping, and as you can imagine, boosting engine power has always been illegal in a race. Is anyone really trying to implement this in a race?
How it works?
Engines for bikes certainly exist, but primarily for bikes that people ride from the suburbs to the city, where the power of an electric motor can greatly facilitate daily trips or reduce the total load of several days. Most of these systems are mounted in the area of the system or rear hub, the engine housing, as well as the capacity for the batteries, are large - none of which can be completely hidden.
However, there is one design called Vivax Assist (formerly known as Gruber Assist) that is almost completely hidden inside the frame. This is what (or something similar) is meant by the concept of "mechanical doping", and some argue that perhaps these designs are used in the most high levels sports.
https://youtu.be/hIlmtQKLMUg
Rebuttal of this situation from Alex Rasmussen
https://youtu.be/PJUt_XPKiDk
In its current form, Vivax Assist includes a small cylindrical motor drive unit that sinks down the seat tube of the frame to hide from prying eyes, plus a small external battery. A small bevel gear is installed at the bottom of the engine housing, which is an upgraded crankshaft. With a simple push of a button on the handlebars, a rider can bring out up to 200W of extra pedaling power, which is about the same as Chris Froome's power compared to the average rider.
The claimed weight of the entire system is 1.8 kg, but even if it is already a lightweight system, it will not be used in standard form.
Professional road racing today is a race of meager advantages and a small design with even a little acceleration will be quite effective in high mountains. The smaller system will be much lighter and more compact, just enough to fit into a wider range of bike frame types than currently available.
At least in theory, it's entirely possible that a button dedicated to shifting gears has been reprogrammed to control a hidden motor. Could the standard shifting have been modified to control a hidden engine system? Of course, it is possible, but whether it has already happened is another question.
It doesn't take much engineering to hide a tiny wireless controller anywhere (or even store it in a team technical room). The Vivax Assist button can be mounted into the Shimano Di2 shifter completely freely, without attracting attention. Some have even suggested that, similarly, the batteries used in electronic shifters could be used to power the engine, eliminating the need for a separate power pack.
At least in theory, mechanical doping is entirely possible. And, as we've all seen over and over again, professional cycling is no stranger to cheating.
Is there really "mechanical doping"?
It seems that everything is possible and is not a fantasy. But there are reasons why this is unlikely.
On the one hand, there are many technical "buts" that prevent the implementation of such a system. While there is no doubt that the system will provide a tangible advantage, electric motors have one important oddity: they provide assistance when electricity is applied, but when running in reverse, this generator takes precious power from the rider's legs; thus, the rider gets exactly the opposite effect than expected.
As a result, any type of Vivax Assist-like system will likely need to include a retractable drive mechanism to eliminate drag when the system is not in use (or the team must strategically develop a plan to replace the bike).
Despite the confidence of some theorists, mounting the engine into the hub is not entirely easy. Modern hubs already take up little space, and current electric bike motors are awfully big (and heavy).
In addition, any type of geared system will also produce a certain level of noise, although given that the system is likely to be used at a crucial moment, the noise of the surrounding crowd will almost certainly drown out the buzz.
Remarkably, none of these arguments negates the system itself. Deliberate cheating has happened before (albeit chemically, not mechanically), and technical issues can be resolved without too much work.
What is the UCI doing about this?
No one has actually been caught racing a powered bike, but it has alerted the sport's governing body, which has responded to questions raised by several key figures and some rather sensational YouTube videos.
Already, the International Cycling Union (UCI) uses an X-ray machine on major races in order to find something hidden inside the bikes. Every scan comes back negative (but as we know, lack of evidence is hardly conclusive evidence of innocence).
German bike company Canyon is already using a scanning device to check frames and forks for manufacturing defects. UCI uses something similar to find hidden engines
Is mechanical doping really a reality, or are they echoes of the past? It seems unlikely, but, unfortunately, not from the realm of fantasy. After all, winning is big business.
Source: astanafans
What is mechanical doping? The UCI officially considers it a “technological scam” and introduced rules last January restricting a cyclist's eligibility to compete for six months and imposing hefty fines if cyclists and crew are caught having hidden motors in their bikes to improve performance.
Early types of engines were not as advanced and hidden on the seat tube, but more sophisticated examples based on military and Formula 1 technology have recently introduced hidden magnets in the wheels that are difficult to detect. The reputation of the UCI was damaged when, during the cyclo-cross world championship they organized, a hidden engine was discovered in the bike of one of the participants, Belgian Femke Van den Driesche, before the women's race. She was immediately disqualified for 6 years.
The fact of the existence of mechanical doping began with the assumptions of cyclists back in 2010 about the possibility of using hidden engines in professional races. Fabian Cancellara was at the center of a controversy after he overtook Tom Boonen in the toughest part of the Tour of Flanders Kapellmour, stunning Belgian commentators with the force of his seated acceleration. Cancellara vehemently denied all allegations. In 2014 and 2015, suspicions of mechanical doping arose again, fueled by rumors in the media.
In 2016, the French TV show Stade 2 and the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera conducted a detailed investigation and stated that hidden motors were used in several races.
The UCI was able to downplay this investigation a little, however, were forced to increase the level of control, and therefore began to use x-rays in the Tour de France. However, suspicions continued to surface. Istvan Varjas, the Hungarian engineer who apparently invented the hidden engine technology, stated that mechanical doping has been used in the past and that over the years the technology has evolved and advanced. It was the first announcement of this magnitude about technology that many denied existed - a small engine that can add power to the pedaling force. The battery-operated device is located in the lower carriage area and helps to pedal. Of course, the cyclist still has to pedal, but as little as 50 watts of assistance can help win the race.
Former UCI president, Pat McQuaid, denied that the technology could be used in the professional peloton.
“We don't know if this product is already used in competitive cycling,” he once said. "AT this moment We have no evidence at this time that this type of engine is already in use in the peloton.”
Team manager Tom Boonen, on the other hand, took the allegations seriously. “That would be even worse than doping. This is pure fraud."
Over time, the UCI were forced to consider this possibility, although McQuaid continued to deny it in practice. “You still can't see them,” he said. "All the evidence is just a battery the size of a bag of sugar."
Cancellara's team zealously defended their cyclist with a strong statement:“There has never been, and never could be, any motors on any of the bikes of the Saxo Bank team,” they wrote. “Fabian's victories are the result of his dedication, hard work and self-sacrifice, as well as his unique ability to strive for a goal. We are aware that the public can see beyond the stupidity imposed by this myth and respect Fabian for being who he is. A real champion."
During the discussion, it was revealed that Chris Boardman warned the UCI about the hidden engines a year before the start of all the rumors. "I was at a meeting with the UCI last year and drew on the board exactly how it could work," Boardman told The Telegraph. “I showed them some of the sophisticated technology that is available now, mostly from Formula 1, that makes it possible to get a kilowatt from a single mini AA battery. And don't forget electric motors. I think you can not say that after my speech there was an alarming silence.
In June 2010, Cancellara still insisted that the only motor he had was his own body.
At the same time, the UCI decided to start scanning bikes for inspection, starting with the Tour de France. In addition to the visual inspection, a verification scan of bicycles for the presence of motors was also introduced.
In March 2015, the UCI tested 36 bikes participating in the Milan-San Remo race. A special place for checks was allotted.
In April 2015, the UCI introduced additional penalties for mechanical doping. Such penalties were suspension from the competition for 6 months and a fine of 20 to 200 thousand Swiss francs. Teams can also be disqualified for six months and fined between 100,000 and 1 million francs.
In May 2015, Alberto Contador aroused suspicion by showing some strange timing changes during a race.
Given all the rumors surrounding hidden engines, some have speculated that he used something similar, to which he replied: “All this talk about engines is just a joke, something from the world of science fiction. Changes depend on the complexity of the stage - tires, bearings and even stiffer wheels can be used. There are times when overcoming 30-40 km gives certain advantages. But that has nothing to do with motors."
Representatives of the UCI dismantled Contador's bike and found nothing.
July 2015 - The UCI have seriously announced their intention to test bikes for mechanical doping, but have only done a handful of tests at the Tour de France.
In July 2016, the UCI tested Froome, Contador and Pino's bikes in Alpe d'Huez for mechanical doping. The UCI was looking not only for engines hidden in the frames, but also devices in the wheels.
Greg Lemon believed the rumors and gave some practical advice to the UCI: “I know that motors exist, I rode the same bike with such a motor and spoke with the inventor of this device. Speaking about the non-existence of such, people fool themselves, so, in my opinion, this is a reasonable suspicion. I also believe that these devices were used in the peloton. It seems unbelievable that anyone would do this, but it's real. It's easy to check, easier than doping, but not by inspecting the seat tube. You need a thermal imager that can be used during the race. He can see the difference in heat radiation in the bottom carriage from a few meters away. This is my UCI advice.”
The UCI has also confirmed the presence of the motor in Van den Driesch's bike, using their new detection methods - rumored to even include a tablet app. “To anyone who wants to cheat, yesterday we sent a clear message: we will catch you and punish you, because our technology for detecting such cheating seems to work,” said UCI President Brian Cookson before the World Championship of cyclocross - January 2016.
The president of the cycling association, Gianni Bugno, said mechanical doping was hardly a problem in the professional road peloton and talked about the UCI's attempts. “We are confident that the UCI is working hard to improve control and hopefully progress will not be long in coming, in collaboration with the manufacturers to avoid any doubts about the performance of the athletes. We are also, within the association, looking for solutions to establish clearer control and we know that we can count on full cooperation with cyclists,” Bunyo says.
The aim is to obtain, with the help of thermal imagers, proof of the use of motors in the professional peloton - as happened recently at Strade Bianche and Coppi e Bartali. The investigation showed the technology of hiding motors inside deep carbon rims.
The UCI denied criticism of the tablet app's inefficiency in detecting motors.
As we mentioned above, the UCI confirmed that Femke van den Driesche was suspended for six years for using mechanical doping. The countdown date is October 11, 2015, and in addition, she must pay a fine of 20,000 Swiss francs.
“The decision to conduct inspections was taken in January 2016 as a result of the discovery of an electric motor in the bicycle of one of the participants in the Women's Under 23 race as part of the Cyclocross World Championship. The suspect bike was scanned with new MRI equipment introduced by the UCI last year. The bike was found to have a Vivax motor hidden along with the battery in the seat tube. It was controlled via Bluetooth using a switch on the steering wheel.
The UCI revealed the details of the mechanical doping tablet technology during a special demonstration to selected media at the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI reaffirmed their belief in using a tablet device to detect the magnetic flux density of hidden motors or magnetic wheels. The UCI clearly wanted to make it clear to everyone that it was useless to try to use mechanical doping in sports.
The UCI has always insisted that the tablet - The best way doping checks, but sporting authorities have begun to use a simple thermal imager at the main stages of the Tour de France, as well as x-rays to identify hidden motors or special wheels.
After the competition, several bikes were x-rayed despite heavy rain and cold. Including the bike of Chris Froome and Peter Sagan. 10 bicycles were taken for inspection without specifying who they belong to.
As a result, not a single case of the use of mechanical doping at the Tour de France was found after 3773 tests.
According to the UCI, a total of 10,000 tests were carried out in different disciplines, in different age categories, male and female. For today the only famous case use of mechanical doping - the case of Belgian Femke Van den Driesche at the 2016 World Championships in cyclo-cross in Zolder, Belgium.
Lance Armstrong denies ever using a hidden motor in his bike professional career. He says he knew about the topicality of the issue after a series of discoveries over recent months, but stated that in 1999 no one even knew about the possibility of using a motor in a bicycle.
Christophe Basson was a professional cyclist in his youth. In 1990, he was the only member of the controversial Festin team who did not take doping and always opposed its use. For this, at one time, he received the nickname "Mr. Clean." In 2001, he retired from cycling and took up a position as an anti-doping consultant in the French ministry. Recently, in a regional race in France, Basson managed to find a motor in a category 3 rider.
Cyclist Cyril Fontaine, 43, was caught using a motor at a small regional race. Basson studied the information on the last few races that Cyril took part in, and he was able to discern some details in the photographs. First, the bike, for some reason was too small size for Cyril. There were 5 cables on the steering wheel. The fifth cable didn't go to the bike computer and the derailleurs were standard so there should be 4 cables. The bottle holder was not bolted to the frame. Basson knew that if the motor was hidden in the frame, then the bolts would get in the way. It also aroused suspicion that the bottle always looked the same, in the same position. That is, it was clearly not used for drinking. The battery for the motor was hidden in it.
Too small frame, according to Cyril, is explained very simply. He needed a frame with a down tube big enough to fit the motor. He ordered it from China, and at that time there was no size he needed.
Motor Cyril ordered from the French manufacturer Vivax. This one can now be bought for 2700 euros. The model, by the way, is not the most advanced. Vivax sells about 40 of these motors a month.
Cyril Fontaine told the French press that he did not use the motor to win, but to avoid the intense pain of an earlier injury. But the results at the last few races have raised suspicions among the organizers. After all, he rode uphill better than the first category cyclists, being a third category athlete. Cyril did have an injury, but he was also convinced that other athletes were doping. He considered that mechanical doping is the best remedy fight against pharmaceutical doping.
Cyril rode 6 races on a bike with a hidden motor. His driving style did not betray a hidden motor, so how many people still use the motor on different levels competition is still a mystery. Only 3 cyclists were found in amateur competitions. It is clear that if an athlete of the third category was able to hide the motor, then for professional athletes with a bunch of sponsors, this is much easier to do.
According to Christophe Basson, finding the motor is not at all difficult. The scanners that the UCI uses today will not give a 100% result, but it is enough to take a picture seatpost and shine a flashlight into the frame and the motor will be visible. With a motor in the wheel, it's a little more difficult, but everything is also possible. It remains to be hoped that at least in professional racing, mechanical doping can be excluded.
Checks International Union cyclists (UCI) bike riders before the start and after the finish of the race have already become familiar. Although no case of mechanical doping has been discovered in road cycling, the controversy surrounding the motors hidden in the bike does not subside. French sports TV program Stage 2 and Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera announced that they had investigated and concluded that hidden motors continued to be used in professional road racing.
Journalists Thierry Vildary and Marco Bonarrigo used an expensive temperature-sensitive detector to check for motors in the Strade Bianche and stage race riders' bikes.
As reported in the article Corriere della Sera, thanks to a detector disguised as a video camera, journalists noticed at least 7 different kind motors in the bicycles of the participants of Strade Bianche and the Week of Coppi and Bartali.
5 of the motors were hidden in the seat tube, 2 in the rear hub and cassette.
The article states that experts confirm that the heat recorded by the journalists' detector can only be produced by a motor.
The journalists Vildari and Bonarrigo also traveled to Budapest, where they met with Hungarian engineer Istvan Varjas, who is suspected of selling bicycles with hidden motors to professional cyclists. In an interview with L’Equipe, Istvan Varjas said that he had never directly sold bikes with a motor to riders, but did it through people in Monaco. The cost of his bicycles is 100,000 - 150,000 euros.
Varias explained to reporters that the most advanced type of neodymium magnet motor is currently hidden in a carbon rim and is capable of producing 60 watts. The motor in the wheel is activated and regulated via bluetooth (bluetooth), and only a powerful magnetic field detector can detect it.
Some of the seat tube motors are now freely available, and the most modern motors are very hard to find due to their very low heat output. Istvan Varjas also told reporters that the latest versions of motors weigh very little, they are only 5 cm long, but they can produce up to 250 watts of power. They can be mounted in a cassette or bottom bracket, which Varjas says is "great for athletes who can pedal at high cadence."
Varyas showed reporters special ones hidden deep in the rim. The magnet with a spiral magnetic structure, powered by a hidden battery, is capable of producing up to 60 watts of power, which can give a significant advantage on difficult climbs or in a tough race. Such a rim costs 50,000 euros, only some athletes can afford it.