Mechanical doping: Criminal conviction for French amateur cyclist found using hidden motor

An amateur cyclist in France who was found using a hidden motor at a race has been sentenced for fraud and attempted fraud by a criminal court.

Yesterday, Cyril Fontayne, aged 43 and a plasterer by trade was sentenced to 60 hours’ community service at the Périgueux criminal court after admitting the charges, reports Ouest France.

He had already been banned from holding a racing licence for five years by the French cycling federation (FFC), which under yesterday’s ruling received symbolic damages of 1 euro.

The rider was targeted by France’s national anti-doping agency, the Agence française de lutte contre le dopage (AFLD) after a dramatic improvement in his results.

He was caught in October in the Dordogne as he drove home from the Category 3 Grand Prix de Saint-Michel-de-Double race, organised by his club, SA Mussidan.

Fontayne had been leading the race when he abandoned due to a puncture and was chased down by the AFLD’s regional representative, the former pro cyclist Christophe Bassons, who found the hidden motor.

Bassons revealed at the time that the motor was a Vivax Assist, which the cyclist had bought online and installed on his bike.

After yesterday’s hearing, Bassons said: “Today, it has been shown that cheating during a race can lead to a conviction for fraud."

Fontayne was also told to pay 88 euro to the Créon-d’Armagnac cycling club, organisers of another race in which he used the banned technology.

It’s the third case involving the discovery of a concealed motor in competition, and the first in France.

In August last year, an amateur cyclist in Italy was found using a hidden motor.

The most significant case so far involved one found in a bike belonging to under-23 Belgian rider Femke Van den Driessche at the UCI World Cyclo-cross Championships in 2016.