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More M doping?
Last Post 10/15/2016 12:32 PM by Cosmic Kid. 7 Replies.
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79pmooney

Posts:3178

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10/13/2016 12:09 PM
Cycling News is either the velo-version of the National Inquirer or we have a big scandal coming.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mechanical-doping-inventor-says-uci-obstructed-police-attempts-to-find-cheaters-at-this-years-tour/

If true, wow!  (And a big, big blight on UCI.  I have always been very skeptical of their "tablets" and in favor of using heat guns.  Yeah, I know a heat gun only catches a rider if you have it on him when he's "using".  But this guy, Varhas, claims that the UCI tablets, used as they are, will not catch motor use.  And so far, their catch rate with the pro teams is roughly zero.)

This article is on the inventor of those tiny motors.  (Not actually the inventor - they were developed for military use.  But he was quick to see that application in bikes and made a few.)  He claims to be in agreement with the Lemonds that they are being used.  Of course, we all know Lemond is just a scaremonger.  The bitter guy who railed against the greats of the sport for years.  Also says he sent the French gendarmes to a race to seize a bike who were stopped by UCI; that UCI then tested the bike with their tablet and it passed.  (The inventor had already told the gendarmes how to test the bike and that the UCI test would not find the motor.)

Once again, this looks like a typical UCI campaign to end doping with systems firmly in place to ensure that doesn't happen.  (Like the phone calls to warn a certain Tour winner of out of competition visits?)

I hope this article is a crock of ****.  But, l sadly, it makes more sense to me than what I see on the road and hear from UCI.  (I keep seeing uphill attacks worthy of Eddy Merckx by riders who couldn't even put his jersey on.  I'd expect those attacks to light up a heat gun as much as the race.)

Ben
Spud

Posts:525

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10/13/2016 01:04 PM
The older I get, the more I wouldn't mind one of those on my bike
6ix

Posts:485

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10/13/2016 03:03 PM
I got to ride one of these a few years ago after LeMond had one brought back from France. There was no way of knowing it was fitted with it at all. Even the switch was nicely hidden under the bartape. If you look on Youtube there is a great video of him cruising around Paris on, I think, a Carrera fitted with this motor. It's not like a throttle on a moped but rather a nice burst of extra wattage when you absolutely need it. An extra 50-100 watts for 2-3 minutes during a critical moment is the difference between winning and being pack fodder. Not saying he used it but Cancellara' acceleration during the 2010 (maybe 2012) Flanders definitely looked unnatural.

Greg isn't wrong on this. Say what you will but he has proven time and time again to be right about this stuff. It's human nature to not want to hear the bad news.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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10/14/2016 09:25 AM
What I get is that the article is basically Varjas' infomercial for the documentary that is upcoming for which he was paid. The rest may be true or it may be hubris (obstruction is definitely the wrong term for what UCI didn't do) but we won;t know until the documentary.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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10/14/2016 10:51 AM
I konw nothing about Varjas beyond this article which is basically his word on himself. But what he has touched on re: UCI sounds so much like the same old stuff. Granted we know Greg Lemond is just a naysayer; we heard him go on for 25 years re: drugs in the peloton and how they changed racing and we know how that turned out. But UCI turning away from the technology that might a) clean up the sport and b) suggest they had their heads in the sand; well we've never seen that before!

Ben
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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10/14/2016 11:17 AM
UCI's rebuttal (that other website) sounds so same-old, same-old. "We're doing all that can be done to stop mechanical doping and you can see by our results we have a clean peloton. (And Festina is not going to happen again over our dead bodies.) " And an actual quote from UCI: "“The UCI carried out extensive bike checks using various detection methods in close collaboration with race organiser, French authorities and French law enforcement.”

In other words, "We will work closely with the French police. In fact we will work so closely with them that they will never see or do anything we haven't done already and know the outcome of. We will happily give them (our) tablets (that we know will find nothing) to check the bikes with their own eyes."

Ben
Red Tornado

Posts:159

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10/14/2016 04:25 PM
Posted By 79 pmooney on 10/14/2016 11:17 AM
UCI's rebuttal (that other website) sounds so same-old, same-old. "We're doing all that can be done to stop mechanical doping and you can see by our results we have a clean peloton. (And Festina is not going to happen again over our dead bodies.) " And an actual quote from UCI: "“The UCI carried out extensive bike checks using various detection methods in close collaboration with race organiser, French authorities and French law enforcement.”

In other words, "We will work closely with the French police. In fact we will work so closely with them that they will never see or do anything we haven't done already and know the outcome of. We will happily give them (our) tablets (that we know will find nothing) to check the bikes with their own eyes."

Ben


The UCI is full of people who are either incompetent, on a power trip or on the take. Possibly all three at once in some cases. Lost all faith/respect for this organization due to the way they are ruining the sport they are supposedly there to govern.
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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10/15/2016 12:32 PM
Far be it from me to defend the UCI, but there are a lot of issues with this story.

1) the gendarmerie do not, AFAIK, have regulatory / enforcement powers as it pertains to mechanized cheating.

2) Varjas did not coordinate his efforts through the UCI or any other recognized agency. He basically showed up and said "let us test these bikes". How do you think WTC / Ironman would have reacted if he showed up at the pier in Kona and tried something similar? I'm willing to bet they would have "GTF outta here."

3) He has yet (again, AFAIK) to demonstrate that the UCI's detection methods are unsound.
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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