Does that include the motor he used during that crazy attack against Boonen?

No, it was his average power output when he won the gold medal for the Olympic time trial.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

People often disregard what took place in the race previous to this happening. Not sure why. Boonen was attacking constantly wasting energy. Wasn’t a suprise he blew up there. Plus Fabian has form on cobble sectors. In fact DeVolder went up that section quicker than Fabian the previous time he won. But let’s disregard all that too.

I just rewatched the youtube video done by the italian guys regarding the motor and simplicity of using it with the finger taps. Seems hard NOT to believe he used a motor...he accelerated away from riders with ease and didn't look like he exerted any more power...I also feel like he looked less stable on the bike, as if he wasn't fully in control of the bike himself. Kind of like he was unsure of what could happen.

Was he ever asked about it face to face?

Wiggins did 440 for an hour. Guys like MvdP and WvA routinely do ~300+ watts for 5+ hour races. That’s why they’re pro cyclists.

Why don't they zoom in on where the motor drive would be and analyze that? Hmm, I wonder.

Video is still there in YT. Measure the climb times and both would have been way up there in the Strava segments. The weird thing is how much time he got at the top in such a short period of time. From the helicopter Cancellara had gained like 200 m in 20 seconds (video is in YT) Cancellara would have to be pushing over 1,000 W for a significant amount of time to create that gap.

Compared to Pogi's attack yesterday in Lombardia when he cracked Roglic et al, much more normal pattern. Pogi is a much better rider than Cancellara and he cannot create those gaps that quick.

I have no evidence of anything just stating that he had some "extremely exceptional" attacks that seemed a bit weird in my view. Much better riders than him have never gained that much in a short period.

Absolute nonsense. Throwing unfounded stuff like this out there with no proof (but a load of disgruntled Italians) isn’t really appropriate. Cancellara had loads of reported power data over the years and his race wasn’t unusual. People need to watch that race in full rather than focus on that one attack.

I always question posting about stuff like this, but Fabian C. is a year younger than me and I raced against him in Europe quite a lot in 1998. All the best junior National Teams and riders in these races, including Frank Schleck, Boonen, Pozzato, Popovich, and I'm sure more if I went back and looked. He won everything, and was incredibly dominant. We'd do races where he'd win the climber jersey, points jersey, almost every stage, and the overall. In some ways I'm surprised he didn't do even more as a pro. That year at the World Champs we looked at his average speed and wondered how he would have done among the pro event that I think Olano won. We thought top-10 for sure, and he was First year Junior! When he won Tour de Suisse as a pro I remember smiling thinking that maybe he'd start to do more in stage races with real climbs, I wouldn't ever discount his ability. My strong feeling is that he never used a motor.

Not sure I get it - 450w and his weight was 82 kg? That 5.5 w/g for 1h12m ... that is good and he won many races like this. Kudos.

We have seen many riders with CP60 way over 6 w/kg, if I am not wrong. Even today (post doping era) many riders are in that range!

I loved Fabian - he was and still is, an amazing rider and a gentleman! Not sure what this slur about motoring is?

For sure used a motor. (IMHO of course).
*emotions aside of course*

He was asked about it and I will paraphrase he said that the only motor was in his two legs. Watching him for years his attack on Boonen was not a surprise nor the power output he has/had.

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Could it be that the others were gassed (Boonen) relative to Fabian. The difference between a 700W surge and 200W surge is 500m, and the diff between 1000W and 500W is also 500W but the latter case as everyone is going at higher watts, the wind resistance is higher and gaps will be less even for the same delta in brute watts. Let's assume watts per kilo between riders is the same, but we know Roglic and Boonen are not similar watts per kilo riders so if Boonen's watts are down, Fabian would have a good chance to make a big gap. Pog gapping Roglic is a different game.

Boonen never cracked as many folks here have implied. He went on to finish second just over a minute behind Cancellara. I believe Gilbert finished third. So he had some serious horsepower lurking behind so he had to do a good TT to stay in second. But...somehow, he lost about 20 seconds on what seemed like 200 m. My original comment about the motor was a weird joke, another alternative is that he managed to get a good draft behind a bike or car. Or maybe it was legit..not sure.

Now let's not talk about Paris Roubaix that same year ;-)

Haha, I like his response to this. If I was him, I'd take the motor-doping conspiracy as a compliment. Show's how much power he has if people think he's using an e-bike when there's no evidence except for his strong riding.

Also reminds me of when Primoz Rolgic call Wout van Aert, "half human, half motor." I'm sure WvA takes it as a compliment rather than a slur.

I'm not getting into a long back and forth on this, but OF COURSE he was using a motor. You can see him activate it (and those absolutely were not gear changes) and then he drops the other best riders like they are on tricycles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nd13ARuvVE

And if that was not obvious enough, you can add in the multiple bike changes when he didn't have flats or mechanical issues, with the team going ahead and preparing bikes and waiting for him to pony express them to the finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al22Nn-6yPs

And yes, I have watched those races and every other Paris-Roubaix and Ronde since the 1990s over and over.

Just curious, do you believe he used a motor in his tt wins as well? Other winning (or not) races as well?

but i thought santa was real daddy

I guess at some point you either belive he was cheating or you don't. If you think he was then he was and if you think he wasn't then you give him the benefit of the doubt.

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

boonen i have heard say he did 800 watts up that section. If you look at him ride he really bogs down throwingthe bike up that climb. By comparison Cancellara's power was closer to over 1200 watts up this section. So i have read anyway.

You can compare it all you want but Boonen isnt really smooth up that section at all he is fighting that bike to get to fabian. He looks more gassed of the two and fabian pulled about 80% of the way when it was just them both. I sense pride talking, but there is now way Boonen was feeling as good as fab.

Im obviously biased with my username, but he is known for power over cobbles, TT's and just all around being damn good. We are pick and choosing specific events within specific races to have a go at him here. What about 2014 flanders that he won in a sprint? Dodgy as well? 2016 olympics trek speed concept, should we cut that frame up and have a look?
Youd have a better argument that in the early years he was on something else, rather than a motor.

I think that he won many, many races with a normal bike. I have no doubt that he was among the best in the world.

But at the time that it was rumored and then proven that motors were entering the sport, he had two moments that defy logic physically.
Combine that with the flicking at something that didn’t change his gears and the relay of bikes for no apparent reason (likely either for a fresh battery or to get onto his motor bike if he only had one), leaves me 100% convinced that what seems to be is what it is.

That he used a motor at least twice AND was one of the best ever are not mutually exclusive.

I'm on the fence about whether he used a motor or not. At this point I have more questions than answers and don't really care enough about the debate to go look up the answers (but sharing here in case someone knows/wants to investigate).

To me, the use of a motor is very risk/reward (using one back then and even now). The risks associated with getting caught are so much bigger than getting caught doping. You also have to have more people involved (at least the mechanic and likely one other person from the team).

From the reward standpoint, I'd be curious what his races were like leading up the ones where he supposedly used a motor. Had Boonen been waxing him all season and in previous years where he thought a motor was the only way to win? Were there other performance outliers at smaller races in those years, because I can't imagine you break out the motor the first time in a monument without first testing it in a smaller race setting. Had he had any big wins at this point in his career, or was this him trying to break through?

Also, I have a hard time believing that if you're smart enough to conceal a motor in a bike, you're not smart enough to put the button somewhere it can be activated more discreetly. If you're making a big hand movement but clearly not shifting gears, that's pretty obvious (again, they are likely smart enough to know that when he attacks, the camera is going to be straight on him). Why not build the button into the rear bottle cage so that removing the bottle activates it (removing a bottle and tossing it away when attacking is not out of the ordinary).

I just don't find these video explanations credible. To me he reaches down, takes another harder gear, and then very smoothly drops some people. I don't think these videos constitute evidence at all.

-Eric