Apparently in the stage on the day before he closed a large gap with astonishing speed. Other riders reported a strange noise coming from his bike. The race director approached him at his car to do an inspection of the bike and the rider drove into the race director, carrying him for 100 meters on the hood of his car before escaping. That’s one way to turn cheating in a bike race into something much much worse!
Looks like his team was in 3rd place but they were disqualified. A law enforcement investigation has been initiated.
Phil Gaimon wrote this about it on Threads: “So motor doper gets caught at a French amateur race. Look up his Instagram and he’s best friends with Vinokourov.”
Surprised this isn’t getting more discussion. Can’t imagine this guy and the Belgian woman who got caught several years ago are the only two to try this. There’s a podcast series called Ghost In The Machine that recently came out investigating motor doping in pro cycling. The podcast was interesting and had high production values, but in the end amounted to mostly innuendo and hearsay (the host/producer of the show has promised future episodes with more substantial conclusions/accusations/evidence/etc, we’ll see).
I hate the use of the term ‘motor doping’. When words are overused/misused, it diminishes their meaning and their impact. If every form of cheating is ‘doping’, then what is doping?
They caught a team using motors to cheat. That’s it.
I hate the use of the term ‘motor doping’. When words are overused/misused, it diminishes their meaning and their impact. If every form of cheating is ‘doping’, then what is doping?
They caught a team using motors to cheat. That’s it.
True, people on TRT and EPO at least have to train hard to amplify their ability. Let’s not undermine their effort!
I hate the use of the term ‘motor doping’. When words are overused/misused, it diminishes their meaning and their impact. If every form of cheating is ‘doping’, then what is doping?
They caught a team using motors to cheat. That’s it.
True, people on TRT and EPO at least have to train hard to amplify their ability. Let’s not undermine their effort!
not sure if you’re being snarky or if you’re just completely missing the point. You must be one of those racist nazi fascist white supremacists we keep hearing about.
This story has it all. All the way to the name of the town for the start of this stage and where it all happened: Crevecoeur-le-Grand (Break heart the Grand).
buddy you need someone to make you a sandwich. i don’t think lurker is a neo nazi at all - just someone who misses the good old days of blood bags and edgar and rim brake
I hate the use of the term ‘motor doping’. When words are overused/misused, it diminishes their meaning and their impact. If every form of cheating is ‘doping’, then what is doping?
They caught a team using motors to cheat. That’s it.
True, people on TRT and EPO at least have to train hard to amplify their ability. Let’s not undermine their effort!
not sure if you’re being snarky or if you’re just completely missing the point. You must be one of those racist nazi fascist white supremacists we keep hearing about.
That’s a good article with lots of very solid details (well, the content is good, the website/page formatting hurts my head).
It’s interesting to me that anytime we see these mechanical/technical/etc cheating cases pop-up (including in big name Zwift events), the person only gets caught when they do something stupid: Specifically go beyond the exepected human norms. Up till that point, nobody notices.
Perhaps this was the first time this rider rode those bike in competition, or, as people start internet sluething…perhaps not. It’s a easy enough frame to pick out in race photos. If this was in English, I’d be game for a Wednesay morning sluething distraction. But alas, I’m going to try and maintain my schedule today.
That said, it’s always seemed to me that this probably happens way more than some like to admit. It’s just that everyone else makes it plausible enough, and doesn’t do stupid obvious stuff.
That’s a good article with lots of very solid details (well, the content is good, the website/page formatting hurts my head).
It’s interesting to me that anytime we see these mechanical/technical/etc cheating cases pop-up (including in big name Zwift events), the person only gets caught when they do something stupid: Specifically go beyond the exepected human norms. Up till that point, nobody notices.
Perhaps this was the first time this rider rode those bike in competition, or, as people start internet sluething…perhaps not. It’s a easy enough frame to pick out in race photos. If this was in English, I’d be game for a Wednesay morning sluething distraction. But alas, I’m going to try and maintain my schedule today.
That said, it’s always seemed to me that this probably happens way more than some like to admit. It’s just that everyone else makes it plausible enough, and doesn’t do stupid obvious stuff.
Years ago, a common acquaintance (Gervais) was in talks with ASO to make aero devices to assist in catching doping dopers and mechanical dopers. I sat through the discussions over coffee at the tour…that was fun. The ideas was if the guy is putting out 8w/kg they may want to triple check is biological passport. If he is getting 70km/h on flats, no tailwind with 240watts, there may be watts coming from elsewhere. The deal was also to broadcast the data to the motos to be used for production and display. Everyone loved the idea until someone had to pay for it. Kind of like the cheque for the coffees.
According to the article the guy sponsors the Astana bike team and has pictures with Vinokourov on his IG…
Fun fact , the guy played in one of the few good french/belgian movies about cycling ** ****https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Vélo_de_Ghislain_Lambert. **
the movie is from 2001 but as the action takes place in the 70s it does not matter that much. ** **The main actor is quite famous in Europe. Benoît Poelvoorde,