‘Motor doping’: Paris Olympics prepares to put a break on cycling cheaters

With the Paris Olympics set to kick off on July 26, both officials and athletes are bracing for a high-stakes showdown against doping. Yet, it’s not just conventional drugs that are under scrutiny.

In a high-tech twist, “motor doping” — the use of hidden electric motors in bicycles — has emerged as a pressing issue.

Recent dramatic events, including a French cycling official leaping onto the hood of a van in a high-speed chase, highlight the lengths to which some will go to combat this modern form of cheating.

This incident unfolded at the Routes de l’Oise cycling competition in May, where the van was suspected to be carrying evidence of a covert electric motor.

Motor doping, a term that might seem pulled from a science fiction script, involves installing small electric motors within bicycles to give riders an unfair advantage.

This controversy has been a persistent issue in cycling, with the sport’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), facing ongoing challenges to eradicate it.

Officials are stepping up their fight against this hidden cheating by using new detection technologies . The stakes are high, as even a slight boost of 20 to 30 watts from a hidden motor can significantly impact race outcomes.

The high-stakes hunt for hidden motors

Finding hidden motors has become a key focus in cycling’s fight against tech-based cheating. The first major case of motor doping was discovered in 2016 when the UCI caught a rider with a hidden motor at the Cyclocross World Championships in Belgium.

The bike, belonging to local racer Femke Van den Driessche, had a motor and battery concealed within its frame. Despite Van den Driessche’s claims of innocence, the incident highlighted the need for more sophisticated detection methods.

The UCI initially tried using infrared cameras to spot concealed motors, but these proved ineffective in pre-and post-race scenarios due to the cold state of the hidden equipment. By 2015, the organization started testing a more advanced tool, such as an iPad-based “magnetometric tablet” scanner.

This device uses a magnetometer to detect disruptions in a magnetic field, potentially revealing the presence of metal or magnets hidden within the bike’s frame.

When this technology was first used at the 2016 Cyclocross World Championships, it made a major impact. Officials found a hidden motor in Van den Driessche’s bike, leading to a six-year ban for the rider.

The motor detected in Van den Driessche’s bike added 200 watts of power, a significant boost. The incident showed that strong detection methods are still needed.

Vivax Drive, the company that made the motor found in Van den Driessche’s bike, is no longer in business. However, similar technology is still available from other companies.

One example is the HPS-Bike, which offers the Watt Assist system. This system includes a small motor, about 30 millimeters in diameter, that is built into the bike’s downtube. It’s intended for recreational riders who want a boost, not for competitive cheating.

Innovative detection methods and future challenges

Since then, the UCI has made strides in developing more reliable detection techniques. In 2018, the organization introduced X-ray imaging , a method that provides definitive proof of motor doping.

Unlike tablet scanners, X-rays do not produce false positives and do not require dismantling the bike. This advancement was part of a broader effort to enhance detection methods, driven by the UCI’s new leadership and a commitment to clean cycling.

UCI President David Lappartient’s administration has been proactive in addressing motor doping, with initiatives including the deployment of X-ray scanners at major events like the Tour de France.

Lappartient has also implemented a reward system for whistleblowers and appointed Nicholas Raudenski, a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigator, as the new motor-doping czar .

Despite these efforts, some experts, including Jean-Christophe Péraud, former UCI Manager of Equipment and the Fight against Technological Fraud, argue that the problem persists.

“It’s 10 years now that we’re speaking about this…. If you want to settle this issue you have to invest,” Péraud insists, as reported by IEEE Spectrum . He advocates for real-time monitoring systems that could continuously verify the legitimacy of a rider’s power output throughout races.

The UCI has begun laying the groundwork for such technology in collaboration with France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The proposed system involves high-resolution magnetometers that could be embedded in bikes to detect electromagnetic signatures of hidden motors, with data related to race officials in real-time.