We NEED To Talk About Motor Doping | GCN Tech Show 335

Mechanical doping on the rise again? In this edition of the GCN Tech Show, Dr. Bridgewood and Alex go on a deep dive into the ongoing investigations of the possibility of pro-teams using hidden motors in their bikes! Additionally, Shimano and SRAM release new groupsets, and new aero helmets from POC seem to be turning some heads in the tech side of things this week. Finally, more interesting comments of the week and did your bike make it to the bike vault!?

On Today’s Show 00:00
Mechanical Doping on the Rise AGAIN? 1:01
Hot and Spicy Tech 16:03
SRAM Red AXS #AD 17:36 thanks to @SRAM
Comments of the Week 23:22
The Bike Vault 26:49

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[gcntech]

What do you think of the investigations in mechanical doping? Let us know in the comments below👇

[soundsgoodright]

I did the sound design for the Ghost in the Machine podcast. Really love working on it and working with Chris. I'm glad it's being talked about on GCN and thanks everyone for listening.

[krollpeter]

Regular bicyclist here. A small motor with 50 W or so in the rear hub or in the bottom bracket, combined with a lightweight battery that provides power for just a few km, used only for assistance on steep sloops ... the entire system at a reasonable price, that's actually something I'd buy.

[aaronhill]

The lengths that teams went to for blood doping, this doesn’t seem far fetched … at all.

[sveinmaassen]

Motor doping!
Cycling has been a big part of my life since 1980. Suffered from heart fibrillation, and cycled actively for many years.Nobody knew what fibrillation was. Switched to the veteran class. 2013 in training everything went black. Woke up in the hospital after 14 days. Managed to train, and again on the bike. Have experienced 2 new cardiac arrest. The last May 18 2024. Was saved by my defibrillator which is located under the left collarbone. Cycling continues with a road bike. Now with the Male electric system X-20 on the Bianchi Aria. It is absolutely fantastic. I still get cycling experience. The system provides assistance uphill and maximum 30 kilometers per hour. Without this opportunity, life would look different. Get out and get trimmed. Cheating is not good, there is lot of control off biks in active ride's so who dares to cheat. Svein Norway 😊

[vaibhavbyreddy]

As an engineering student and an FPV drone builder and hobbyist, there are motors that can do well over 1000 watts of power in a package 20mm in diameter and 10mm height. Obviously this is not the ideal motor for the application but the power density is insane these days. Also that motor costs 20 quid, and a motor controller would be around the same. I can think of a dozen ways to "mechanically dope" my bicycle in my shed in a couple of afternoons. Give me a few grand and i can make it undetectable. Maybe contacts between the wheels and the frame for power, making the motor look like the already mechanically complex hubs etc. No doubt that multi million dollar companies are capable of far more. As an engineer this is very exciting.

[andeyking]

The fact that they are testing for mechanical doping, for me, confirms it exists and is present at a pro level.
The UCI doesn't *WANT* to catch mechanical doping at a pro level, they'll face the same level of media scrutiny they did with the whole Lance debacle.
The UCI playbook is:
1. Make a show of the testing so it looks like we are trying to catch this.
2. Do the bare minimum tests, with enough warning, no never catch anyone.
3. Catch some low hanging fruit to claim the doping is isolated and that the testing works.

[Deckzwabber]

I think a simple solution would be to place the bikes in a parc fermé after the race for a technical inspection, like they do in motorsports.

[mathewrose]

Instead of mechanical doping to gain an advantage for yourself, I could see a lot of fun to be had with adding a device to one's cockpit that disrupts radio signals in the immediate area of one's bike. Whilst you're running hardwired or mechanical shifting, cause a localized bluetooth dropout for the other riders with wireless shifting in a bunch and ride away from them while they languish in the wrong gear as the gradient pitches upwards.

[Chiller]

The real question is, ”How serious are the authorities about investigating mechanical doping?” Cycling does not warrant or has not earned the benefit of the doubt.

[chrisridesbicycles]

Electrical engineer here. Let's do a few calculations. A DI.2 battery has a capacity of 3.7 Wh (you can bet it's more than in the datasheet, it comes from Japan). That is for example 22W for 10 Minutes. Let's take 15W, we all know that this is sufficient to ride someone off the wheel. With DI.2 12 speed, you normally have a free socket to plug your motor in anyway. DI.2 is CAN bus so you also get your controls with the top buttons on the shifters for free. We are only missing the motor from the smallest of cordless drivers and a little bit of metal to drive the crank axle. It is very very possible. Like with the medical passport, it should be mandatory to deliver the power files to the UCI (there are ways to make modifying them very very hard) and those should be checked for abnormalies automatically.

[blackflamesolutions]

The owner of a company sponsoring the Astana team has just been caught motor doping in a French amateur Masters race.

[ricecrash]

I swear people in my Saturday group ride are motor doping 😂.

[kamui]

This weekend I took part in an amateur race in France during which a rider was performing very suspiciously with a slightly modified frame. The commissaires wanted to check the bike, the rider took off in a car and almost killed the race director.
It's all very worrying.
For more information, read the article by Matos Vélo, a French journalist who wrote a very interesting article on this bike.
By the way, the rider in question is very close to the Astana team as he sponsors the team 😅

[benodaboy]

I listened to the podcast first and then came to get your guys take on it. Great work as always - fascinating stuff

[Gixerpilot]

There is a really good podcast with Greg Lemond, where he said he has seen Chris Froomes data, when he’s going up Mt. Vontoux, where his watts are decreasing but his speed is increasing, whilst going uphill . He’s convinced it’s been happening for years

[dk]

Explains why rider telemetry is such a closely guarded secret. The official reasons for hiding that data never cut it for me.

[stephencraib]

Thanks for the super nice on my bike. Don't worry not a single scratch was caused by the bush. It was a nice soft one..

[theRealDavidn]

Great to have Dr Olly providing the scientific perspective - love listening to him. A real asset to the GCN team

[hisdadjames]

The Cycling Highlights channel has just done a vid on a ‘masters’ over-40’s champion who was also done for having a motor in his bike. Its out there!