So the airing is officially this Sunday 1/29/2017. I imagine, the granddaddy news program 60 minutes doesn’t do stories to just hypothesize, but will have actual evidence and not just the tease below. It will be interesting to watch. I wonder if anyone will be called out as a suspected user or if any evidence will be shown of motor usage.
From CBS’s press release:
The Hungarian designer of a secret bike motor tells Bill Whitaker he thinks the motors have been used to cheat in pro cycling as far back as 1998. Istvan Varjas speaks to Whitaker for a 60 Minutes investigation into mechanical cheating in a sport already infamous for its doping scandals. One of the sport’s champions, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, is convinced the motors are being used. He’s also in the 60 Minutes report, to be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Varjas, a scientist and former cyclist, says he first designed a motor to fit inside a bike’s frame in 1998. He says a friend found an anonymous buyer who offered him nearly $2 million for it. Varjas says he took the money and agreed not to work on such motors, nor sell or speak of them, for 10 years. Asked whether he believes hidden motors like his have been used since then, he answers, “I think. Yes.â€
Jean-Pierre Verdy, former testing director of the French Anti-doping Agency, says the sport has a problem. “It’s been the last three to four years when I was told about the use of the motors,†Verdy tells Whitaker. “There’s a problem. By 2015, everyone was complaining and I said, ‘something’s got to be done.’â€
I don’t know if this guy is credible or not, but what he said in other media where things like this
“suspect about those with very high cadences, because it is where the electric motors are more effective”
He also said some riders now have motors without knowing it. They are no longer in the bottom bracket, but in the hub and are controlled via blue tooth by the team cars.
He claims to have been persuading the UCI to change the detection methods because they are useless to no avail.
All this was gonna be aired in January, so it seems at least that part was true.
I wouldn’t doubt it. I’m friends with a former pro that was a whistle blower. He was telling me “they’re probably using motors” even before the CX world championship pit bike thing… actually with his insight into the “sport” no form of cheating to win would surprise me.
There is no doubt that motors are being used. Just watch the tapes of certain accelerations or time trial performances in the past 10 years. On some of them, it really is like watching a motorcycle zoom by a cyclist.
There are some pretty interesting videos on YouTube. One of Ryder Hesjedal’s bike spinning away after a crash in a way that certainly appears to show the back wheel is still being driven forward after he is off the bike. There is another of Fabian Cancellara making strange motions with his fingers, possible hitting a switch, right before wildly fast accelerations that nobody could even think of matching.
One of Ryder Hesjedal’s bike spinning away after a crash in a way that certainly appears to show the back wheel is still being driven forward after he is off the bike.
You can easily duplicate the spinning bike with your own. Spin the rear wheel and lay it down, it’ll move in a circle too.
There is no doubt that motors are being used. Just watch the tapes of certain accelerations or time trial performances in the past 10 years. On some of them, it really is like watching a motorcycle zoom by a cyclist.
I’ll be very interested to watch the show.
Well I’m glad they are all moving to using disc brakes for their motorbikes. (Pink Font / sarcasm- I hope!)
Except his rear wheel slams down, drags along the ground and has the weight of his right leg pressing down on it. I accept that it could maintain a bit of momentum and could move inches. It skitters away from him in bizarre fashion after his foot comes out. It goes solo, boomerangs around and comes back to him before he grabs it.
I invite anyone to watch the video and draw their own conclusion.
Yeah I’ve seen that video. Doesn’t seem like the wheel would have enough inertia to spin the bike around like that. It doesn’t match up with similar crashes I’ve seen IRL and on tv/youtube.
So the airing is officially this Sunday 1/29/2017. I imagine, the granddaddy news program 60 minutes doesn’t do stories to just hypothesize, but will have actual evidence and not just the tease below. It will be interesting to watch. I wonder if anyone will be called out as a suspected user or if any evidence will be shown of motor usage.
From CBS’s press release:
The Hungarian designer of a secret bike motor tells Bill Whitaker he thinks the motors have been used to cheat in pro cycling as far back as 1998. Istvan Varjas speaks to Whitaker for a 60 Minutes investigation into mechanical cheating in a sport already infamous for its doping scandals. One of the sport’s champions, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, is convinced the motors are being used. He’s also in the 60 Minutes report, to be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Varjas, a scientist and former cyclist, says he first designed a motor to fit inside a bike’s frame in 1998. He says a friend found an anonymous buyer who offered him nearly $2 million for it. Varjas says he took the money and agreed not to work on such motors, nor sell or speak of them, for 10 years. Asked whether he believes hidden motors like his have been used since then, he answers, “I think. Yes.â€
Jean-Pierre Verdy, former testing director of the French Anti-doping Agency, says the sport has a problem. “It’s been the last three to four years when I was told about the use of the motors,†Verdy tells Whitaker. “There’s a problem. By 2015, everyone was complaining and I said, ‘something’s got to be done.’â€
Makes it super easy to go to the gym and run right now. I mean, I am starting to believe we are a society of cheaters.
Saw the hesjedal video a while ago, yes that one certainly looks suspicious.
So let’s switch “gears” and not speculate IF they’re being used, there is some consensus they are…the question is to what degree are they being used? I’d like to think not that many guys use them, but we all know pro cycling…
And even more importantly in this forum…have they ever been used bt professional triathletes?
I mean, I am starting to believe we are a society of cheaters.
I’m starting to wonder why people are so delusional about honesty in sport when our own behaviour in nearly every other facet of life is riddled with holes of dishonesty. They may be minor, we likely justify our actions, we still hold our head high, but it’s still dishonest.
Except his rear wheel slams down, drags along the ground and has the weight of his right leg pressing down on it. I accept that it could maintain a bit of momentum and could move inches. It skitters away from him in bizarre fashion after his foot comes out. It goes solo, boomerangs around and comes back to him before he grabs it.
I invite anyone to watch the video and draw their own conclusion.
Except his rear wheel slams down, drags along the ground and has the weight of his right leg pressing down on it. I accept that it could maintain a bit of momentum and could move inches. It skitters away from him in bizarre fashion after his foot comes out. It goes solo, boomerangs around and comes back to him before he grabs it.
I invite anyone to watch the video and draw their own conclusion.
The conclusion I draw is that it happened on a downhill. If he had a motor, why would it be on then. That would be silly.
