Cycling was being forced to "confront a new controversy" last Sunday 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, according to Ian Chadband of REUTERS. Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) President Brian Cookson said that "the motor was discovered inside the frame of the machine being used by teenager Femke Van den Driessche at the world cyclo-cross championship in Zolder, Belgium." 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." Yet the 19-year-old Van den Driessche "denied suggestions" she had deliberately used a motorized bike in the women's U23 race and "was in tears" as she told Belgium TV channel Sporza: "The bike was not mine. I would never cheat." In a sport that has "long battled with a major doping problem," suggestions and rumors of "motorised doping" have "long floated around too but nothing has been proved in major competition until this case." It prompted Cookson, who confirmed the case would be investigated by the UCI's disciplinary commission, to say, "We've heard some stories for a long time now about the possibility of this" (REUTERS, 1/31). In London, William Fotheringham wrote Sporza reported that the Belgian Cycling Federation had "confirmed that the detained bike belonged to Van den Driessche." Ironically, Van den Driessche had "abandoned the race due to a mechanical issue" shortly before the bike was scrutinized. Van den Driessche’s name "did not feature in the official results on the UCI website on Saturday evening." However, the rider's father told the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad that "the bike was not his daughter's." He said, "It's not Femke's bike. Someone from her team, who sometimes trains with her, brought the bike to the pit. But it was never the intention that she would ride it." UCI Head of Off-Road Racing Peter van den Abeele said that the "governing body had been testing a new detection system, not because it had any particular indication that fraud was going on, but because this seemed a good opportunity" (GUARDIAN, 1/30). CYCLING NEWS reported Van den Driessche said that she "had been surprised by its presence" and that "she was innocent." She said, "I didn't know anything about it. I don't know how that bike got there. I was surprised to see that bike standing there. It's not my bike. There's been a mistake." She "found herself at the centre of a storm" after the inaugural women's race, when the UCI found a motor inside the frame of her bike during routine checks. She now faces at least a six-month ban and 20,000 Swiss franc ($19,557) fine, "although the punishment could be much more severe than that." Van den Driessche: "I hope they see the truth. I don't know how it got there. I'm focused on myself on that day. I took care of myself. I was in front. At the back, the mechanics made a mistake. They can check everything: all my cross bikes, all my road bikes. They will not find anything. I'm 100 percent sure about it" (CYCLING NEWS, 1/31).
