Tour de France confronts a new threat: Are cyclists using tiny motors?

15 bookofjoe 11 7/25/2025, 9:32:22 PM washingtonpost.com ↗

Comments (11)

carlhjerpe · 23h ago
At that level of competition, just keep xraying bikes so it can't become an issue? Drug testing is privacy invasive, having your bike xrayed isn't if you're not cheating.
jerlam · 22h ago
At the top levels, there isn't much privacy already. In 2007, the GC leader of the Tour was removed from the race because they had lied about their location a month prior. Racers are required to tell UCI, the cycling governing body, their locations in order for doping controls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Rasmussen_(cyclist)#Un...

djhn · 10h ago
Not just at the elite level either. The whereabouts system has expanded to apply to tens of millions of people, completely outside of any serious national or international legal frameworl.
bcraven · 20h ago
I understand that thermal imaging cameras can pick up anomalies in the frame where the motors are housed during the race.
throwaway81523 · 21h ago
This is not new and they routinely examine bikes for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_doping

Article created in 2016.

aeternum · 21h ago
It's too obvious to put the motor in the bike. What they should do is embed electromagnets under the road surface to help accelerate certain bikes and decelerate others.
SamPatt · 19h ago
Aren't the frames mostly carbon fiber now?
bookofjoe · 23h ago
jfghi · 22h ago
They could examine random bicycles plus those that did extraordinarily well and issue lifetime bans for offending parties.
aaronrobinson · 22h ago
Motor doping has been around for ages. Nothing new.
treetalker · 23h ago
Not as far as they can tell!