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

13 bookofjoe 10 7/25/2025, 9:32:22 PM washingtonpost.com ↗

Comments (10)

carlhjerpe · 8h 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 · 8h 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...

bcraven · 5h ago
I understand that thermal imaging cameras can pick up anomalies in the frame where the motors are housed during the race.
throwaway81523 · 6h ago
This is not new and they routinely examine bikes for it.

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

Article created in 2016.

aeternum · 7h 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 · 5h ago
Aren't the frames mostly carbon fiber now?
bookofjoe · 9h ago
jfghi · 7h ago
They could examine random bicycles plus those that did extraordinarily well and issue lifetime bans for offending parties.
aaronrobinson · 8h ago
Motor doping has been around for ages. Nothing new.
treetalker · 8h ago
Not as far as they can tell!