French TV Program Claims UCI Tipped Off Others About Mechanical Doping Investigation

France Television program Stade 2 has "alleged that the UCI worked to disrupt a police investigation into mechanical doping during last year’s Tour de France," according to Sadhbh O'Shea of CYCLING NEWS. The program, which was broadcast on Sunday, reported that "police spoke with the UCI last July to discuss reports that a ‘Hungarian’ had been trying to sell motors" during the 2015 Tour de France. The Hungarian in question is "believed to be engineer Stefano Varjas, who was working for Typhoon bicycles at the time." The e-bike manufacturer "has been working with the UCI" on its motor detection at races. The program "showed screengrabs of emails" between UCI Technical Manager Mark Barfield and Typhoon bicycles CEO Harry Gibbings. Stade 2 claims that Barfield’s email "was a tip-off about the investigation, which allowed Varjas to leave the Tour before being questioned by the police." The email from Barfield to Gibbings read, "Hi, Do you have a phone number I can all you on straight away? I’m sitting with French police who believe an engineer ‘Hungarian’ is visiting TDF today to sell a bike and visit teams, could this be your guy???" Gibbings confirmed the email conversation but said that "there was no collusion between his company and the UCI and that they were not trying to disrupt the investigation." Gibbings said that there was "no follow up from the French police but that he had questioned Varjas on several occasions regarding the matter and that Varjas flatly denied being at the Tour de France" (CYCLING NEWS, 6/13).