The confirmation yesterday (31st January) that a bike used in this weekend’s World Cyclo-Cross Championships was fitted with a motorised device is possibly the answer to this post’s question (see Cycling News for details if you must). The top level event in possibly the purest cycling discipline.
There have been rumours of “mechanical doping” for a while now but most of us struggled with actually believing it.
All the instances of bikes being hurried away to the privacy of the team trucks could be attributed to a number of dodgy, yet understandable reasons. Teams may add some lead weight into the seat tube to hide the fact that the bike they have doesn’t come under the regulation minimum weight. Individual riders may prefer certain pieces of equipment which are not their sponsors so want to avoid losing the financial support. For example, tyre manufacturer brands are blacked out which can’t be noticed when the bikes are being ridden but can be at the finish area.
But a motor in the frame was the stuff of myths. Surely the additional weight would offset any advantages? Surely the increase in power available was negligible at professional levels?
Well, apparently not. There are mainstream manufacturers out there as Matt de Neef reported last year in Cycling Tips.
Some of these products claim to provide over 100 watts of power which is a significant boost if you’re trying to maintain a gap on the peloton or struggling up the final climb in a major race.
So if one of these devices can provide an extra 100 watts of power with a 60 minute battery and if bikes are already too light then it kind of makes that apparent massive leap to the professional ranks slightly shorter.
But mechanical doping requires a significant level of subterfuge with many characters involved. Mechanics, riders, engineers, quite possibly manufacturers and even sponsors. It requires wholesale corruption. If this is the case, professional cycling is well and truly broken and deserves to be thrown to the wolves. It is just frankly, beyond the pale.
So where does it leave me? Well, I am a massive fan of professional cycling. I’ve seen it tear itself apart with doping scandals. I’ve seen it ridiculed with dodgy governance. But I have remained with it because I still believe in the majority of cases it’s one man or woman on a bike riding as fast as he or she can and that’s something I can relate to.
I’ll give it another season – this season (2016) and if it becomes apparent that mechanical doping is rife, then that’ll do me. I still can’t believe that this is the case but we have been fooled before and if it is so, I will turn my back on it and I won’t look over my shoulder.
Still riding but with a somewhat cynical grimace.
The Giant