And so it begins…? "mechanical doping" first?

I did wonder that with a fine. Do they have any leverage other than withholding your race licenese?

They can pursue you through the civil courts in some countries. They generally don’t though. As it costs so much. And when the person you are pursuing goes bankrupt, it’s not really worth it.

I’d like to see Armstrong pursued to the ends of the earth tho. And then chucked off.

Really disappointed she has retired, and specifically after speaking to her lawyers “and family”. She’s taking all the blame and protecting those behind it.

She’s admitted guilt on the strict liability rule with “the bike was in my pits”.

She might be getting a nice big payoff from somewhere to stay quiet/carry the can. The fines and penalties for sponsors/teams etc could be significantly more painful than 50k/lifetime ban.

She might have even been offered an out by the UCI, now everyone knows they are looking for motors, and can find them, with easily available cheap equipment, and will ban you for life if you have them.

So the €50k could be a headline figure, which quite probably won’t be enforced. And she buggers off, never to darken cyclings door again. If she fights, she’ll loose (there was a motor, in her bike, in her pits, the rules are fairly clear on that) and the final bill will be lots more than €50k. And the team/family will be dragged down with her. Though by the sounds of it, the family are already pretty much in the gutter anyway.

Yes I’m a bit peeved at that, I’ve been waiting for this to come to pass but it appears that she has taken it on the chin in what looks like a cover up, that’s just how I’m reading it obviously and I’m not convicting her that is just like I said how I’m reading it, I’d have liked to see her knuckles wrapped and then out with it, even write a book or make a film but I’d have liked to hear the background, then for her to carry on.

In the light of what the UCI lawyers have put forward its not really going to stack up as others have pointed out and it wouldn’t have gone much further than initial findings, “yes the bike was in my pits

” Guilty!

Next,……..

And facing a lifetime ban if they were to make an example, who knows, she has chosen to step back.
A tough decision, probably heartbreaking for her, I wonder what was going through her mind whilst weighing it all up.

family will be dragged down with her

TBH as thieves and chemical dopers I don’t think she could drag them much further down 😕

She’ll probably just go and ride ENDURO now

Might get a job working for an electric bike company.

She will probably be endorsed as an anti “Mechanical” doping advisor working with the Youth Development team on how NOT TO cheat, as a deterant you understand, £75K a year, Jag estate and fuel card, your pick of carbon bike built up exactly how you desire, Onboard Motor optional.

Wage negotiable dependant upon previous experience, Cheating, lying, covering up desired.

I think to get that she’d have to take it on the chin, take the enforced time away from the sport, come back genuinely repentant and spend years at the highest level (whilst being vocally against mechanical doping) learning stuff about racing which would be valuable to juniors (rather than anti-doping, which wouldn’t be anything to do with the job). Rather than flouncing.

So she’s decided to enter Sea Otter Classic on her eBike, entered the none UCI sanctioned event and is/has been training for it too.
She seems upbeat about the race, open enough to explain the course and conditions and the suitability for the eBike in the event. As it’s an eBike only race category anything goes, no holes barred open ride-what-you-bring event in amongst the whole Sea Otter jamboree.
I for one will be rooting for her, if this brings her some redemption or is an event she has talent in, it will not only be good for the sport but for her too.

BOL Femke.

Was that not an April fools story?! I started off thinking it was serious, but after the cxmagazine story had her saying the competitors would be fat Americans and she’d smoke them, and I saw it published on April first I figured a hoax

Only a lifetime ban and vigorous chase of all winnings will stop these bleating thieves. Why do they never shut up and just go? Miller included no matter how you square it away.

no holes barred

😯

So she’s decided to enter Sea Otter Classic on her eBike, entered the none UCI sanctioned event and is/has been training for it too…..I for one will be rooting for her, if this brings her some redemption or is an event she has talent in, it will not only be good for the sport but for her too.

BOL Femke.

Why do they never shut up and just go?

Oh dear.

In other news, GCN presenter Dan Lloyd returned to the professional peloton with Di-Data, and Thames Valley Police started a Police Cat Squad.

All reported yesterday.

And apparently John Tomac and Thomas Frisknecht are racing at Pembrey tomorrow. (At 10.45 if anyone wants to rush down there. Please let me know if it isn’t an April Fool…. 😆 )

MOAR MECHANICAL DOPING! [/url]

Riders not named?

Interesting theremal images there, makes you wonder why (if?) the UCI haven’t been using the same tech for detection purposes if it works so well and reveals stuff that well.

Would be better than pre and post race checking too as there’s obviously scope for sleight of hand swapouts there but video during the race leaves no room for excuses.

The UCI don’t actually want to catch the cheats as then it would be public just how many cheat.

They would rather be seen to be doing something to which in turn deters the cheaters.

Its pretty unlikely that those at the top of the sport/administration don’t know about the cheating – they just don’t want it to discredit the sport further.

The poachers end up becoming game keepers.

The UCI don’t actually want to catch the cheats

Well then, if that is true then things are going to get pretty interesting pretty quick if we are now at the stage where they can be identified remotely by 3rd parties mid-race with a thermal camera…

It’s not true.
The issue is budgets.
Everyone of these initiatives to catch cheats cost money. They don’t have unlimited budgets. I’d not be surprised to hear that many teams have bigger budgets than the entire UCI.

It’s not true.

I tend to agree. No matter how widespread it is still in their best interests long term to identify and catch cheating.

But I don’t think budget comes into it with thermal imaging, it’s cheap and easy, even if only used as a ‘pre’ check to identify bikes for further in-depth physical scrutiny.

The camera is cheap.

You then need to have a bloke working it, a bloke riding a motorbike following the race. You need people/person to analyse the footage. You need to write a process, you need legal advice to make sure your process is robust.
You need legal support to ban the rider/team. etc etc.

If you don’t, those teams with bigger budgets (and better lawyers) will tear you a new one.

I bet putting Femke van den Driessches legal stuff together, ready to ban her, would probably have cost the UCI going on €30 grand, and it didn’t even go to court. Probably a net loss when all was done. If she ever pays the fine.

from :

http://fittish.deadspin.com/secret-thermal-camera-footage-allegedly-shows-seven-pro-1771492666

I get that there are operational costs, that much is obvious.

But the cameras are cheap, and there are enough opportunities to have cameras pointed at bikes by people (or fixed), whether dedicated to that purpose or not that I can’t see budget being a major factor, especially when it is so important to the sport.

I know thermal imaging is not that accurate, and alone could never been used as concrete proof, but used in conjunction with other technologies as a a warning/flagging system to highlight bikes for further checks it could work well, which is why I’m surprised it hasn’t been used more widely.

<daydreaming mode>

As a side thought, given the disparity between UCI and team budgets that you highlight, and given how massively important it is to the sport to be doing something about it (and be seen to be), and how important it is to the teams to have a clean rep and also to out other teams who might be cheating, I wonder if either some sort of levy/investigation tax on the teams would ever be feasible, ie: make them pay for the resource to investigate.

It would be a brave team indeed if one of them would turn round and say, here you go, we believe this is so important to the sport, here is £XXXX we are putting forward to help fund impartial investigation.

</daydreaming mode>

<daydreaming mode>

As a side thought, given the disparity between UCI and team budgets that you highlight, and given how massively important it is to the sport to be doing something about it (and be seen to be), and how important it is to the teams to have a clean rep and also to out other teams who might be cheating, I wonder if either some sort of levy/investigation tax on the teams would ever be feasible, ie: make them pay for the resource to investigate.

It would be a brave team indeed if one of them would turn round and say, here you go, we believe this is so important to the sport, here is £XXXX we are putting forward to help fund impartial investigation.

</daydreaming mode>

That’s not really a team thing though, more likely a single sponsor? Might work for an events company though. So tagline like— Le Tour sponsored by Redbull ‘making racing fair’ —or something?

WANT! 😀

It’s the UCI, no need to attribute to malice what can easily be explained by their incompetence

That thermal imaging camera may put an end to things though, loads of people will be out with them I reckon! If only they had it when Cancellara was at it.

That’s not really a team thing though, more likely a single sponsor? Might work for an events company though. So tagline like— Le Tour sponsored by Redbull ‘making racing fair’ —or something?

Yeah, I was kinda thinking of two different ideas there, one whereby the teams all had to contribute to a central fund to pay for investigative resource, the other was more as you describe whereby a ‘sponsor’ team/organisation would front the cash.

I think the central fund already exists, its UCI membership. I suppose you could make a new group but there are already team groups, rider groups, bike manufacturer groups etc.

its UCI membership

and therein lies the problem I guess, either they don’t have enough funds, or as some hint, there’s a more sinister problem of them either not putting enough effort in (deliberate or otherwise), or being incapable of it.

That’s what was making em think that perhaps it’s a case for needing a genuinely impartial organisation (if such a thing exists!) to administer and execute the scrutineering checks and such.

hey ho, just idle ideamongering on my part, I’m sure far cleverer people than me have thought this through 😉

I kind of wish they’d not done the FLIR camera thing until a really big race like the TdF, just to see if could claim any of the big scalps.

Did anyone clock the price for those electromagnetic wheels?……

50,000 euros……..!

So the sentence is announced…..

6 year ban & 18K euro fine (+ UCI legal costs)

And prize money and medals returned.

Are they targeting it all at her or at the team/mechanics as well?

prize money & medals is backdated only to October 11 last year>

It is her with the licence so she is the one fined…..

http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/the-uci-announces-disciplinary-commission-decision-the-case-femke-van-den-driessche/?utm_content=buffere3b1a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Can she raise the 18k??

The ban should be fine, since she seems to have accepted the retirement from competition in UCI events already. Doesn’t mean she can’t compete in non UCI events, but that may mean more prize money and with that she could pay that 18k back quickly..

Better than a lifetime ban though.. 😕