Seattle Forrest

Sure, but she broke the rule against having a motor bike, even if she didn't break the rule on using one. And I'm not buying that she brought it along for ballast.

Erzulis Boat 

I didn't think about it that way. Now she's a victim!

seymour1910

100% agree. The arguments people are making for her are as silly as her excuse. It doesn't matter if she wasn't using the bike at the time it was discovered. It's against the rules to have it at the race. That isn't hard to understand. The argument about the corked bat is also a weak argument. If a player has a corked bat in his bat bag and it's discovered, how is that okay? Of course he had bad intentions, why else would he bring it to the park?

Deflated footballs may not have changed the outcome of one football game but rules were broken either way.

rmfnla

Not another fart thread...

StephenH

I think the perceived seriousness is considerably different.

For example, a year or two ago, there was a RAAM team busted because the "cyclist" was riding in a car when he should have been riding his bike.
Meanwhile, there were other RAAM participants who were penalized for running a stop sign or similar infractions.
One is perceived as a major infraction, one more minor, and they are treated accordingly.
Ditto with this issue.
Your perception of the seriousness may vary.

seymour1910

Comments from Froome

Froome says had warned UCI against mechanical doping

Doge

The problem with making such rules is they get tested.
Curious. UCI rule broken, UCI over both National AND trade teams.

Doge

Which at the professional level (I have no idea what they sign) I think should be done away with. Pro athletes do what they can to win and I don't think a signature will level the playing field.

Doge

Well, its not. While some things are easy to define as cheating (this case) others are not as it typically involves intent and success in breaking a rule.
I would favor the word just go away and they penalize based solely on what they find. The penalties would correlate to the advantage gained. Being pulled up a hill by a car ~ having a motor. That one was premeditated and the other happened because the rider got their arm stuck in the door does not matter so much unless intent is important. I think figuring out intent in enforcing rules in sports is very hard to do.

SevenTwentyNine

You do not accidentally or voluntarily get on someone else's bike during a World Championship race. It does not happen. She's a sh*tty liar.

mapeiboy

Let's see here , young , pretty female on mechanical doping . We like to burn her on a cross to send out a strong message . Just kidding . I guess she is at the wrong place , wrong time where UCI wants to make an example out of her to make a strong statement about mechanical doping . By the way , Pantini is still greatest climber in modern time , dope or not .

SevenTwentyNine

A lil EPO never hurt nobody... C'mon what are you talking about!

Anyways like the others said though, wrong time wrong place. UCI is currently like a guard dog angry at itself that it let someone slip by unscathed and it's been lying in wait ever since just telling itself "I pity the fool..." And then she comes along with one of the worst lies in cycling history to explain the situation... The mystical "friend". Has this friend been identified yet. Claims responsibility? Uuum no professional athlete in any sport mixes up their gear especially in the final event without raising hell and high water about it beforehand and getting it sorted before the competition begins.

jsjcat

They can get with the VW software engineers to get around the emissions!

smarkinson

This is getting ridiculous:

Van den Driessche?s friend claims ownership of motorised bike | Cyclingnews.com

Femke's father and brother are facing charges for stealing Parakeets from a pet store in Feb 2015.

Her brother (Neils Van den Driessche) is currently banned for EPO use.

Nico Van Muylder (an ex pro and family friend) has claimed to be the owner of the motorised bike which Femke claims she sold to him a year ago (I wonder what their respective heights are). Nico has provided no explanation of why the bike has a concealed motor.

CliffordK

I'd still like to see a better description of what technology was used to uncover the alleged fraud, and see some photos of the bike as it was being disassembled. And a confirmation on whether or not the bike was ridden.

However, Femke Van den Driessche was a 19 yr old competing as a top tier athlete against 22 and 23 yr old riders. I have to wonder if she was in for a rude awakening when she graduated from the 18 yr old age group to the 23 yr old category, then pushing into international professional status as the youngest in the race category.

If she was using the motor in the international championships, it is quite possible that she had also used it in previous races.

Did the UCI inspect all of her race bikes? All of the team bikes?

Nachoman

Classic. If that family was here in the U.S., they'd have their own reality tv show.

seymour1910

“It’s my bike,” Van Muylder told Het Nieuwsblad. “All I can say is it’s my bike.”

Yeah sure dude

rm -rf

I think that the motors have strong permanent magnets. My smartphone has a magnetic compass, and it complains if I try to use that function near masses of iron. Perhaps they have an app that finds strong magnetic fields that are localized as the tablet or phone was waved over the bike.

Next: magnetic shielding?

FrozenK

UCI will not disclose the technology used because... dah, you don't want people to know how to beat it. They did scan other bikes -US Jeremy Powers posted video of the inspection. And there is no question the bike was motorized, even Van Den Driessche acknowledges it and admits that it was not compliant. Under UCI rules the presence of the bike at the pits means a 6 month suspension. Whether she rode it or not.

As for whether she has used it before or not, her performance at Koppenberg -she took second place last year- is very suspicious. The video of her happily pulling away from the field (including Sanne Cant) on the climb...

CliffordK

Yeah, a simple handheld compass would work too.

Not all motors require permanent magnets. The PM magnet motors are the most efficient when running, but may have resistance when not running, and are not as compact or powerful as motors with both stator and field coils.

Would one design the motors to be engaged 100% of the time, or to engage somewhat like a car's starter motor when the motor is turned on?

Yeah, knowledge is power for cheating
Drug testing rules are often quite open-ended, including defining classes of drugs without specifying all exemplars and allowing new drugs to be added at any time without notification.

seymour1910

As far as the engagement of the motor, if she was using the design I've seen on youtube, there is a button on the handlebars (kind of discrete in the bar tape) that allows one to engage the motor when needed.

gaucho777 

I completely agree.

Doge

Many think cheating requires getting an advantage. She got no advantage from this bike in the race she was caught in because (as I understand it) she did not ride this bike in the race she was in.

Again, I'd prefer the "cheating" label just go away and when something is not within the rules they just apply the rules. I don't care (from a penalty application) if it was on purpose or not.
These long term bans are not really fair. Just test more, catch more and apply the pre-defined sanction. There is way too much guessing on intent going on these days.

bakes1

So you would encourage your child to cheat at whatever endeavors he pursues because there would be no consequences unless he was caught?
Place no blame on the cheater? All responsibility and blame should be placed where again?
That would make for some great parenting...

bakes1

I heard her father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery.