The International Cycling Union (UCI) was on Sunday being forced to confront fresh controversy after the sport’s head confirmed the first top-level case of “technological fraud,” with a hidden motor being found on a Belgian cyclist’s bike.
The electric motor was discovered inside the frame of the machine being used by teenager Femke Van den Driessche at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Belgium, UCI president Brian Cookson said.
“It’s absolutely clear that there was technological fraud. There was a concealed motor. I don’t think there are any secrets about that,” Cookson told a news conference.
The man elected to fight the long-standing scourge of doping in his sport also insisted there would be “no place to hide” for anyone attempting to cheat with motorized help.
However, 19-year-old Van den Driessche denied suggestions she had deliberately cheated in the women’s under-23 race and was in tears as she told Belgian TV channel Sporza: “The bike was not mine. I would never cheat.”
Van den Driessche said the bike looked identical to her own, but belonged to her friend and that a team mechanic had given it her by mistake before the race.
The bike was taken for inspection along with others after she had pulled out on the last lap of Saturday’s race with a “mechanical problem” and had to walk to the finish.
“It wasn’t my bike, it was my friend’s and was identical to mine,” Van den Driessche told Sporza.
“This friend went around the course Saturday before dropping off the bike in the truck. A mechanic, thinking it was my bike, cleaned it and prepared it for my race,” she added.
Van den Driessche said she feared her career could now be over, but she still hoped for a second chance and was not afraid of any investigations into the case.
“I’m aware I have a big problem. I have done nothing wrong,” she said.
In a sport that has long battled doping problems, suggestions and rumors of “motorized doping” have floated around, but nothing has been uncovered in major competitions until this case.
UCI regulations on “technological doping” were introduced last year, with guilty riders liable to a minimum suspension of six months and a fine of between 20,000 and 200,000 Swiss francs (US$19,579 and US$195,778).
The governing body had brought in bike checks for road racing over the past season, including at the Tour de France, where winner Chris Froome’s bike was among those tested, a move that Froome applauded because “of all the rumors that are out there.”
The Van den Driessche case prompted Cookson, who confirmed the case would be investigated by the UCI’s disciplinary commission, to pledge riders would be protected against technological fraud.
“We’ve heard some stories for a long time now about the possibility of this,” Cookson said. “I am committed and the UCI is committed to protecting the riders who do not want to cheat in whatever form and to make sure that the right riders win the race.”
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a
RSS