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"Motor or just skidding?" Mechanical doping suspicions raised against World Cyclo-cross Champ Wout Van Aert

Spanish sports website AS.com has doubts - but Belgian press says "no hard evidence"...

Spanish sports daily AS has asked, for the second time inside a month, whether world cyclo-cross champion Wout Van Aert is using an illegal hidden motor in his bike.

The question was prompted after an incident during yesterday’s Karawarencross in Lille, Belgiun when Van Aert’s rear wheel slipped sideways behind him.

The Belgian managed to save himself from going down, while Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel likewise managed to remain upright and avoid hitting the barriers, and would go on to secure victory.

- Mechanical doping: All you need to know about concealed motors

But AS suggests that as Van Aert stops pedalling, his rear wheel seems to spin around faster than it should.

“Van Aert’s bicycle is again raising doubts about this strange rear wheel movement,” said AS. “Motor or simple skidding?”

The Spanish newspaper made similar claims against the world champion following a round of the World Cup in Fiuggi, Italy last month, when again the rear wheel of his bike seemed to spin around of its own accord.

At the time, Van Aert was running with his bike on an off-camber section – with Cyclocross.com’s explanation of that incident being that his pedal seemed to get caught on some mud, causing the wheel to spin.

Yesterday’s incident is referenced in this report on the website of CX Magazine, but purely from a racing perspective and with no suggestion that there is anything suspicious about Van Aert’s bike.

Belgian newspaper Het Niewusblad said there was “no hard evidence” to back up AS’s latest claims.

It’s just over a year now since, after several years of rumours, a hidden motor was found in competition for the first time in a bike prepared for the Belgian Under-23 rider Femke Van Den Driessche at the world championships.

While rumours persist of the use of concealed motors in cycling, that remains the one and only time one has actually been found.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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22 comments

Avatar
tugglesthegreat | 7 years ago
1 like

They don't call him Wout "Full Throttle" Van Aert for nothing. angel

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Accessibility f... | 7 years ago
1 like

I don't think that's any kind of motor, more likely an extremely loose bit of mud and the weight shifted off the back wheel.  I think the bump in the track that throws him from the saddle makes it look worse.

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longassballs | 7 years ago
1 like

If Wout had a motor he would have just used it to win the sprint at the end. He's lost every head to head this season against MvdP when they've been together on the last lap. If he's got a motor he's not using it right.

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Randonneuring Joe | 7 years ago
1 like

Keep calm,  AS's guys have never seen a bike. This paper is just a (bad) football focused one.

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fenix | 7 years ago
1 like

Definitely not a motor. Looks to me like the wheel is in the air - that's why its spinning that fast. And the motors that we know of are linked to the crank. Not just the wheel.

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jamtartman | 7 years ago
1 like

Is everybody looking at the same thing? 1:43 in. Deffo a motor.

 

 

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Yorkshire wallet replied to jamtartman | 7 years ago
0 likes

jamtartman wrote:

Is everybody looking at the same thing? 1:43 in. Deffo a motor.

 

 

More sideways than Casey Stoner.

 

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surly_by_name | 7 years ago
1 like

I think the contention that WvA had a motor in his bike that caused his wheel to spin as shown in this clip is complete and utter bullshit. (But I don't know whether he has cheated in some other way, I hope not but I've been wrong about people before and I have no way of knowing.)

Its Krawatencross, not Karawarencross.

It's good that Spanish press is at least covering cross. What with good showing at the worlds, its obviously a growing part of cyclosport in the Iberian peninsula.

I am not sure the DVV is a lower level event, especially as it was last round and WvA was leading overall series from KP (fourth wheel in Marlux colours above), albeit by a few minutes.

Finally - its a shame this bullshit overshadows what was a fantastic piece of skill (and even some good sportsmanship - check out WvA's little "sorry, f*%cked that up" hand gesture as they exit the turn) from MvdP and WvA, which happened in one of the more exciting races of the season.

 

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IanEdward | 7 years ago
2 likes

Also, hasn't the idea of a hub mounted motor (which would be required to recreate the effect in the video) been pretty well debunked*?

The traditional seat-tube/crank motor combo wouldn't have your wheel spinning like crazy when the cranks are static like that (see also, famous Ryder Hesjedal clip)

 

* i.e. yes it would be physically possible, but to make it small enough, light enough and discreet enough, whilst also meaningfully powerful, would be beyond the ability/budget of a pro cycling team...

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fenix | 7 years ago
1 like

So let me get this right -  the World Champion - whose bikes were comprehensively checked by the UCI at the Worlds needs to have a motor in order to perform at lower level events ?

Does that make sense to anyone ?

 

Rubbish. 

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psling | 7 years ago
2 likes

Well, the guy at 24sec - 30sec  is obviously using nitrous injection...

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Liam Cahill replied to psling | 7 years ago
1 like

psling wrote:

Well, the guy at 24sec - 30sec  is obviously using nitrous injection...

Lars van der Haar is only 58kg and can put out 1400w. Like putting a V8 in a Mini!

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ru w00dsy | 7 years ago
1 like

There's a gif of the moment on the clynic that looks suspicious, but watching it full size it looks normal to me. I'd have thought if he had a motor he would be better using it on the sections he was losing time (small hills where he had to run or use his leg to help him up).
Also the rider on the inside is slowing down considerably (looks like one leg unclipped), this appears to make it look like the skid is increasing speed against the other riders.

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chadders | 7 years ago
4 likes

Motor or not,  well held that man!!!!

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Guanajuato | 7 years ago
2 likes

There's a certain irony in a Spanish paper accusing any sportsmen of cheating.  #Cough# Fuentes

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Danger Dicko replied to Guanajuato | 7 years ago
0 likes

Guanajuato wrote:

There's a certain irony in a Spanish paper accusing any sportsmen of cheating.  #Cough# Fuentes

Classic deflection. A la Fancy Bears.

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1961BikiE | 7 years ago
2 likes

The wheel is skidding sideways but the bike is moving forward. Surprisingly forward motion of bike causes even an unpedalled wheel to go round. Shock horror, both my front and rear wheels go round if I roll forwards without pedalling. Jeebus! Investigative journalism?

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Liam Cahill | 7 years ago
4 likes

He's probably putting out between 500-800w. If the wheel looses traction, of course it's going to spin faster as he doesn't instantly stop pedalling when the wheel slides. 

As a side note, I can make a wheel do that in mud. Not hard.

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KoenM | 7 years ago
3 likes

Looks perfectly normal, also remember he was just attacking before that moment. Also Wout didn't even win the race, so was Vanderpoel using a better motor?  It's just bullshit really, there bikes get checked alot now, not worth it, get caught=end of carreer! Btw Herbie, have u even watched the video, he used his leg to get up the hill (pushing himself with it)!

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kevinmorice | 7 years ago
3 likes

It is 1:27 in to the video for anyone who doesn't want to watch 2 minutes of nothing much.

 

It looks like a perfectly normal slide as far as the video goes. If that is all the evidence of a motor then there must be a V8 hidden somewhere on my road bike. 

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Herbie | 7 years ago
1 like

Certainly Van Aert's back wheel seemed to catch him up several times,twice as obviously as the main slip, plus just before that he appeared to continue riding uphill with only one leg in the cleats, the other leg trailing! Was his bike examined?

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Altimis | 7 years ago
0 likes

Let's ask Van den Driessche! she is first hand experiences user  4

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