UCI President Pat McQuaid (Image credit: Gregor Brown)
The UCI will begin testing for motorized doping in time for this year’s Tour de France. The measure was put in place at the recent UCI Management Committee, held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on June 17.
The sport’s governing body recognised that it was “necessary to bolster measures that have already been put in place (in particular the visual inspection of bicycles, a procedure that was recently reinforced). As a result, a scanner will be used from the time of the Tour de France,” the UCI said in a statement.
The move comes off the back of recent allegations that riders within the professional peloton were using bikes powered by small batteries during races.
After a short but successful phase of testing, the new scanner will allow officials to check for any illegal devices within the frame of the bike.
The UCI will also work with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a Swiss technical institute that was involved in the aftermath of the swimsuit scandal that affected the swimming world championships in Rome. The two parties will collaborate on the future control of the development of cycling equipment.
The UCI will also enforce stricter regulations in order to ensure that only equipment that has been checked at the start or finish can be used during competitions.
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