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Mechanical doping claims resurface at Tour de France

Three anonymous riders claim to hear 'strange noises' from four team's rear wheels during the race

The spectre of mechanical doping has reared its head once again at the Tour de France following a report citing several unnamed riders claiming to hear "strange noises" in the rear wheels of a number of team's bikes at the race.

An article published by Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Thursday alleged that three separate riders at the Tour had heard noises they had never heard before coming from bikes involving four teams at the race. 

According to the report , one rider told the newspaper during the first week of the race that he was hearing odd new noises coming from the rear of several bikes. During the race, the UCI had announced that no forms of mechanical doping had been detected.

"There is a strange noise. I can hear it while riding. It comes from the rear wheels. A strange metallic noise, like a badly adjusted chain. I've never heard that anywhere," the rider said.

Tadej Pogacar says there is nothing illegal about his bike at Tour de France Tour de France leader Pogacar: Maybe one day I will publish my data French inquiry into mechanical doping dropped for lack of evidence

Two days later, the same rider reported back pointing out that the four teams that featured the noises coming from their rear wheel. "Four teams have this little sizzle in the rear wheel," he said.

Another rider said that talk in the peloton isn't about a motor in the crankset or seat-tube – the most popular rumour that has been circulated about possible mechanical doping in the past decade or so. Instead, he talked of an energy recovery system similar to the technology used in Formula 1 cars.

"There is no longer talk of a motor in the crankset or an electromagnet system in the wheel rims, but of a device hidden in the hub," he said. "We are also talking about an energy recuperator via the brakes. The inertia is stored like in Formula 1."

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A third rider, not quoted in the article, is also reported to have raised concerns about the situation. One of the riders noted the relative strength of the four teams in question, with 13 of the 19 stages so far having been shared among them.

"Who will dare to speak out? We're not doing anything, and the situation is serious," one of the riders said. "Usually, we have a team that dominates. Or a team that is weaker than the others. That's sport... This year, four teams are far above the rest. The smallest rider who signs with them becomes very strong. If he changes team, he becomes average again. How can you explain that?"

Following Friday's stage 18, race leader Tadej Pogačar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates, denied that his bike was in any way illegal.

"I don't know. We don't hear any noise," Pogačar said in the post-stage press conference. "We don't use anything illegal. It's all Campagnolo materials, Bora. I don't know what to say."

On Monday's rest day, the UCI announced technological testing figures for the first 15 stages of the Tour, with nothing suspicious found after 720 tests had been carried out, including testing with magnetic scanning tablets and X-ray technology.

"A total of 720 tests have been conducted before and after every stage. All tests have come back negative," read the UCI statement.

"Of the tests carried out, 606 were conducted on bikes before the start of each stage using magnetic scanning tablets.  Meanwhile, X-ray technology was used to test another 114 bikes at the end of each stage.

"The UCI underlines that the post-stage testing pool always includes the bike ridden by the winner of that day's stage as well as the leader of the general classification. The remainder of the post-stage testing pool is decided on a two-pronged approach: bikes selected by the UCI based on its information and intelligence, and bikes ridden by athletes selected for targeted anti-doping controls by the International Testing Agency (ITA), the independent body in charge of the UCI's anti-doping activities." 

The statement continued with an announcement that a new form of testing will debut at the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, with mobile technology able to scan bikes on the move, rather than just before or after races.

"After the introduction of magnetic tablets in 2016 and mobile X-ray technology in 2018, a new backscatter technology will be used to test bikes at the Tokyo Olympic Games. This relatively compact and light hand-held device provides instant images of the interior of the bike that can be shared in real-time to anywhere in the world via a secure platform.  It will be used in Tokyo at the road, mountain bike and track cycling events."

So far, only one rider has ever been caught and banned for mechanical doping. Cyclo-cross rider Femke Van den Driessche was banned for six years in 2016 after a motor was discovered in a bike with her pit crew at the Cyclo-cross World Championships that year.

In 2020, the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) ended a multi-year investigation into mechanical doping at the sport's top level earlier this year without finding any further evidence of the practice.

A tech writer's analysis

Cyclingnews tech writer Josh Croxton gives his thoughts on the allegations:

Having not heard the noise that these anonymous riders are claiming to have heard, it's impossible to say what it's likely to be.

With that said, chains interacting with cassettes and derailleurs all make a noise, some are louder than others, and each setup will likely have a different pitch to the noise.

All four of the mentioned teams use groupsets that have been around for years already. Three of the teams use Shimano Dura-Ace R9170, while the fourth team use Campagnolo SuperRecord EPS 12-speed, and they all use stock components – there are no aftermarket pulley wheel systems attached to derailleurs.

They have all likely swapped out the stock bearings for oiled ceramic bearings, but even so, the noise of the chain interacting with the pulleys and the cassette shouldn't be anything that riders haven't heard before.

One thing that has changed in recent times is the use of waxed chains. It's not a new technology by any means – certainly not new to the 2021 Tour de France – and it's impossible to know for sure which teams are using waxed chains instead of a typical oil-based lubricant, but with the promise of a more efficient drivetrain, it's possible that more teams have made the switch.

One of the named teams, for example, are sponsored by CeramicSpeed and are running the brand's pre-treated UFO race chains. However, for any teams treating chains themselves, these chains need time to 'break in', since the wax dries and hardens. During that initial 10 kilometres or so, chains are considerably noisier than average.

That aside, unfortunately, there's no common denominator between the components used by the four mentioned teams. One team have used Vision wheels, another team has used both Vision and Shimano, while one are on Roval and the fourth team use Campagnolo wheels.

Ultimately, while these claims are very intriguing, there's very little to substantiate them at this stage.

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Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton.

Josh has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews. On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years.

He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. 

These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.

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Is ‘technological fraud’ a real threat at the tour de france, the uci x-rays the stage-winner and yellow jersey bikes every day..

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How serious is the threat of “technological fraud” in the Tour de France? And what is the UCI doing to try to keep the genie in the bottle?

Velo queried several Tour riders and team officials across the peloton as well as spoke to the UCI officials in charge of the controls.

Also read : The UCI claims it controlled 700 bikes during the Tour de France

The UCI conducts dozens of daily X-rays and scans across the peloton every day.

“To be honest, I am in the bunch, and I don’t think it’s happening,” Caleb Ewan told Velo before he left the Tour.  “It’s true, the guys are flying,  but it’s down to bikes are faster, knowledge and training improves, and it’s normal that the sport evolves every year, everyone gets better and better. It’s human evolution.”

Following UCI protocols, bikes are X-rayed every day from the yellow jersey, along with the bikes of all the stage-winners, jersey-holders, and other random riders.

The UCI expressed confidence its controls are sending out the right message.

“I think it’s very difficult,” UCI’s Michael Rogers, who heads up the UCI’s efforts to combat technological fraud, told Velo . “We also need to think of the other side. It’s an extreme risk,  and the risk/benefit ratio is out of whack, but we need to stay present.”

Staying present — that’s what the UCI insists it’s doing with its staff of three or four officials who ply the peloton every day.

They scan dozens of bikes each morning with a hand-held device that can detect magnets. Another mobile, hand-held X-ray device was introduced this year to complement the UCI’s finish-line X-ray system.

They’re looking for motors, batteries, cables, or any large, dense mass that otherwise is not part of a modern-day carbon-fiber bike build.

So far in the 2023 Tour, there’s been no evidence of technological fraud in the peloton. In fact, there’s never been since the UCI rolled out its high-profile X-ray program nearly five years ago .

There have been hints of hidden motors for years, however, with rumors of major one-day monuments and even grand tour performances clouded in suspicion. YouTube is full of videos describing how they can be used.

Oddly spinning wheels, random wheel changes, and sudden accelerations following strange hand movements on handlebars were tell tale signs, but nothing was ever rooted out.

In 2016, a Belgian rider was caught with a motor-assisted bike during a cyclocross race. There were rumors of a rider using a motor-assisted bike last year in one of Italy’s top gran fondos .

Sensing the sport’s credibility was in question, the UCI’s redoubled its efforts to stop would-be cheats. The cycling governing began using a thermal-heat sensor and then rolled out a mobile X-ray facility.

With the improved technology of electric bikes, however, many insist the technology already exists to hide and mask motors in today’s racing bikes that are already laden with batteries for electronic shifting.

But would someone dare use it in the Tour de France?

“In the pro ranks, I would be surprised. I don’t think it’s a real issue,” Ag2r-Citroën’s Oliver Naesen told Velo . “Every day in the race communiqué we see the bikes that are scanned, and they all come back negative. I have never read anything of anybody having any anything illegal on the bike.

“On this bike, there is a big battery in the seat post for the derailleurs. There is electricity in the shifters for the derailleurs, but motors and engines? Not as far as I know of.”

“Personally I don’t think it’s happening. I am an optimist. It’s the same with doping, I think the sport’s quite clean,” Israel-Premier Tech’s Michael Woods told Velo . “I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened in the past, but for it to be happening today, I don’t know.

“I won the other day [Puy de Dôme] and I didn’t have a motor in my bike,” Woods said. “The fans and the pundits are going to speculate, but that’s part of sport.”

Could someone use some sort of motorized assistance, not to necessarily go faster, but to ride easier across the stage to stay fresh for a key acceleration?

Or what about swapping out bikes during a stage, and riding a “clean” bike to the line where the X-ray crews are waiting?

Rogers insisted the UCI is keeping a sharp eye on the bikes raced on during each stage at the Tour.

Rogers told Velo that the team of UCI officials working the Tour this month are especially vigilant for any sort of suspicious performances, oddly timed bike changes, and frequent changes of wheels or other equipment.

“It’s quite a broad program. We have people tagging bikes after the race for X-rays,” Rogers told Velo . “We work closely with VAR [ed – instant replay], with watching video for suspicious kind of activity, bike changes, wheels changes, and we’ll keep track of those.”

Bikes can also be dismantled in what would be the ultimate control.

In the 2020 Tour, Jumbo-Visma’s top sport director was kicked out of the race after arguing with a UCI technician who insisted on taking apart Primož Roglič’s bike atop the Col de la Loze stage.

There was no motorized assistance found, but team officials were enraged after they said the UCI technician damaged the crankset.

Some pros believe that the UCI’s controls should be doing more.

Benoît Cosnefroy of Ag2r-Citroën told journalist James Startt that he doesn’t think the UCI controls are enough.

“I don’t know if there is any mechanical doping, but it’s possible in my opinion, and for me it’s a real problem because there is not a real fight against this,” Cosnefroy said. “It’s a question of credibility for our sport. It’s not like doping, where it is in your system and they can keep a flask and test it again some time in the future.

“With mechanical doping, there is no trace of it,” he said. “The bike is taken away and if something is wrong, there is no possible trace of it. For me the UCI is not doing enough.”

Rogers of the UCI insists the cycling federation is staying on top of the game.

“It’s important that we stay present and we keep up with technology,” Rogers told Velo . “We keep current, and we make sure we protect the integrity of the sport. The public are asking that, and there have been a lot of rumors in the past.

“We have to protect the riders by saying we check these things, and to send a message to the general public that the results are of full integrity.”

And what would happen if a stage winner at the Tour would be caught with a motor inside their bike?

“That would be really shocking, to be honest,” Naesen said. “They would go to prison.”

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Tour de France’s doping history clouds a ‘cleaner’ sport

Senior Lecturer, University of Kent

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James Hopker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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With the start of the 101st Tour de France only one day away, the topic of doping in cycling will no doubt start to rear its ugly head. While the riders cover 3,664km in 21 stages over three weeks in an extraordinary feat of human endurance, the aftershocks of the Lance Armstrong affair continue to colour our approach to the event and its champions.

Armstrong was meant to be the saviour of modern day cycling as it sought to recover from the Festina scandal of 1998 . He was credited with an intense attention to detail and dedicated scientific approach to his preparation; his cycling team was revered for a scientific and systematic approach to training and racing. Both parties were seen as having “too much to lose” to be caught up in the doping scandals that surrounded the sport during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately as we now know, this was not the case.

So where does this leave the current crop of cyclists as they push out on the start from the start line of this year’s Tour? Even the most cynical of us hope that the riders are clean, or at least cleaner than the previous decades. The anti-doping debate is also testament to the hope that people involved in the sport want change, and want to believe that professional cycling has cleaned up its act.

Media, sponsor and fan pressure is starting to force teams to take a “zero tolerance” stance on doping, and is undoubtedly behind the decision of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) President, Brian Cookson, to create the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) . Cookson’s actions have won many admirers including International Olympic Committee President, Thomas Bach, who said he was “impressed” with the UCI’s efforts to stamp out doping in the sport.

Change on the horizon?

But is the attitude towards doping in cycling actually changing in the peloton itself? It is difficult to say for certain. Thanks to the history of the sport there will always be scepticism about whether riders are clean. It is unfortunate, but inevitable, that riders and teams who carry the yellow jersey that has been stained by years of doping and cheating, will be questioned. It was no great surprise that many in the sport viewed Chris Froome and Team Sky’s dominance at last year’s Tour with a level of suspicion.

The introduction of the biological passport for athletes in 2008 appears to have had an effect on athlete behavior and attitudes towards doping in the sport. The biological passport monitors certain parameters of a cyclist’s blood over time, making it more difficult for them to dope without detection. The passport does not test for specific banned substances, rather for the manipulation of blood parameters that suggest doping has occurred. Encouragingly, the biological passport has stood up to legal challenges . But it will take more evidence to show that the biological passport provides a long-term deterrent to doping within the sport.

So, why is doping such a big issue in cycling and other endurance-based sports? Well it improves performance, quite significantly, and in some cases by as much as 6% according to research work by Yannis Pitsiladis. Therefore, assuming that professional cycling is cleaning up its act, the Tour should be significantly slower than the 1990s and 2000s. This can be tracked as the Tour often visits the same routes and mountains year on year, affording historical comparisons.

Sports scientists such as Ross Tucker from South Africa have performed these comparisons, which demonstrate that from 2009, the average performance speed and power outputs of top tour riders fell by 5-10%. This is apparent from the fact that the tour winners of 2010 to 2012 being barely able to make the top ten in tours from the 1990s and 2000s.

Cycling power output carries with it some important physiological implications because the cyclist/bicycle system is “closed”: physiological power can be directly measured as mechanical power by a power meter on the bike. Therefore it is possible to estimate, with a few assumptions, what kind of physiology determines a given output. The performances of some riders in the Armstrong era were such that it is hard to believe they were the result of the “normal” training processes, however gifted they were.

In time, technological, training and nutritional advances might slowly narrow the gap between recent performances and those of the 1990s and 2000s. Last year Chris Froome’s ascent of the main mountain stages (Ax-3-Domaines and Mont Ventoux) matched the level of performance seen in the Armstrong era.

Speculation and accusation

Unsurprisingly following Froome’s performance in the mountains fingers started to be pointed at both him and Team Sky. Following a period of concerted pressure from the media, Sky eventually released Froome’s power data for “expert” review. Dave Brailsford, Team Sky Principal, suggested that their reluctance to release Froome’s data was due to the actions of “pseudo scientists” who misinterpret power output data either inadvertently, or deliberately, to make it say more or less what they want.

In some respect Brailsford is absolutely correct, there are many things that influence performance which power output data alone fails to capture (weather, race tactics, equipment calibration), making definitive conclusions difficult. It would be a misapplication of science to accuse a rider of doping due to an unrealistic performance, even though many do.

But secrecy and refusal to openly discuss performances inevitably leads to the speculation about their veracity. What most people strive for is a cleaner sport: at times there appears to be a polarised approach, either look to the future and deny everything from the past, or examine every detail and challenge every performance which from time to time leads to unfair accusations. A balanced approach is probably somewhere in the middle.

At the weekend, all eyes will turn to Froome and Team Sky as Tour favourites. Their performances are currently seen as the benchmark for the rest of the peloton, as well as cycling fans who want to know what it takes to win the Tour.

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Doping Cloud Still Looms Over a Thrilling Tour de France

By Michael Powell

• July 26, 2019

BRIANÇON, France — To watch the cyclists of the Tour de France assault the high Alps, those grand geologic up-thrusts of granite and limestone, to see men pedal through misting meadows and up brutal switchbacks is to thrill at feats of athleticism.

As the Tour headed toward its finale in Paris on Sunday, there were so many complex strategies and stories in the race’s final days: Would the ebullient young Julian Alaphilippe of Deceuninck Quick-Step regain the yellow jersey to become the first Frenchman to claim the title of champion in three decades? Would he fall to the high-altitude guy from Colombia, Egan Bernal of Team Ineos (the New York Yankees of cycling), or the Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk of Jumbo-Visma?

As I watched, however, another question nagged: Is all of this real?

Are these stars drawing on deep reserves within or are they helped along by a chemical new or old? When announcers exclaim that a rider pedals “like the Hulk” or describe Alaphilippe’s performance as “absolutely extraordinary,” it seems wise to temper the urge to clap unreservedly.

This sport was nearly consumed by doping. In the 1980s and 1990s and deep into this century, one champion after another fell away: Marco Pantani, Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, who was barred for life and stripped of seven Tour de France titles.

This much can be safely said: Cycling today is far cleaner than before. Testing has improved by great leaps and athletes have their blood tested out of season, as well. This is essential for any half-serious testing program. As fewer champions perform in ways that make them appear as a separate species, rival cyclists perhaps no longer feel it necessary to illegally pump EPO into their veins, which increases the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen.

That said, cycling certainly is not altogether clean. In March, the German police found a skier tethered to a blood bag and the investigation led two Austrian cyclists to confess to doping. They hailed from prominent teams competing in this year’s Tour de France.

“Are we catching every cyclist who dopes? No,” says Jonathan Vaughters, manager of the EF Education First cycling team, and author of “One-Way Ticket,” a forthcoming book that examines cycling’s dirty history and his own doping. “But we are leaps and bounds better than two decades ago.”

I placed a call to the South African Ross Tucker, an internationally renowned exercise physiologist and founder of the website The Science of Sport . He has tracked doping and performance and notes that in the wake of multiple scandals, cycling times declined. Of late, however, those times have edged back up.

Cycling has embraced the biological passport, which profiles athletes’ individual blood values, so there is a baseline that their tests can be compared with. That has dialed back but not stopped doping. A cyclist might still try to micro-dose — take small doses of drugs that are difficult to detect — right up to the line.

“The breadth in which you can safely dope has greatly narrowed and that has constrained use,” Tucker said. “What we don’t know are the unknown unknowns. Are there new drugs, new ways?”

Ominously to the view of antidoping scientists, neither of the Austrian cyclists caught in that police investigation had tested positive.

Marc Madiot, director of the team Groupama-FDJ, employed one of those cyclists and he made a fine show of indignation. “Trust was betrayed,” he proclaimed. “That’s one of the hazards in life.”

That’s true about life. It’s also true that Madiot raced in the bad old days of doping and was questioned intensively by the police and was nearly brought to ground in a big cycling doping scandal in 1998.

Now I need to back off a few steps. Cycling may be the original fallen angel of doping — competitive cyclists in the 1880s allegedly pedaled fueled by a stew of cocaine and caffeine — but it arguably has a notably tougher testing regimen than many American sports, including baseball.

And many in Major League Baseball’s establishment hailed from a no less dirty rotten steroid era. Tony La Russa, now a vice president with the Boston Red Sox, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014 for his work as a manager. His teams, notably the Oakland Athletics, were great beneficiaries of baseball’s steroid age and he adamantly defended such obvious dopers as Mark McGwire.

Nor did the baseball press cover itself in glory. A house was on fire and too many reporters sounded like fan boys rather than run for a bucket of water.

Let’s return to cycling. The persistence of its doping problems owes to the fact that the sport is about power and endurance. As another fallen champion cyclist, Tyler Hamilton, noted in his own tell-all book, “The Secret Race,” racing at the highest level is about the ability to endure pain while producing energy across hours of effort and at high altitudes.

In all of that, he noted, blood doping was — and still can be — a great force multiplier.

Of late, the look of professional cyclists has changed and that has stirred concern. Where in the 1990s cyclists like Armstrong looked muscular and fierce, today cyclists look lean to the point of emaciation. Much speculation centers on an unapproved drug, AICAR, which helps an athlete lose weight without losing muscle mass.

Tucker equates the effect of that drug to car design. You can, he noted, make a bigger and more powerful engine, and that happened in the 1990s. Or you can keep the engine the same size and cut the mass of the car.

“AICAR offers a way to cut weight without impacting performance,” he noted.

There is finally a conundrum that confronts all who would keep doping out of professional sports: The distance between the cup of suspicion and the lip of drop-dead proof is great.

“In order to trigger a sanction, you have to have been 99.9 percent likely doped,” Tucker said. “Obviously many fall short. They are highly suspicious but not enough to sanction.”

So fish slip through the net and maybe we’re the better for that. Better to let 99 walk free than to jail one innocent. It does however feed that nagging suspicion that hangs over all sports in this era — the explanation for extraordinary accomplishment might prove more complicated than it appears.

An earlier version of this column misspelled a part of the name of the cycling team that is directed by Marc Madiot. It is Groupama-FDJ, not Goupama. The column also misstated the year of a widespread cycling doping scandal in which Madiot was questioned by the police. It was 1998, not 1999.

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The UCI reveals its programme to combat doping and technological fraud for the 2023 Tour de France

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) today reveals its programme to combat anti-doping and technological fraud that it will implement for the upcoming Tour de France (1-23 July).

The comprehensive anti-doping programme deployed at the French Grand Tour will be led by the International Testing Agency (ITA), the body to which the UCI delegated the operational activities of its fight for clean cycling in 2021. After ensuring a level playing field for all participants at the Giro d'Italia last May, the ITA will once again work with all stakeholders, including the French authorities, to protect the integrity of one of the world's most prestigious cycling events.

This will be the third time that the ITA has taken charge of the anti-doping programme at the Tour de France since the UCI delegated its anti-doping activities to the agency. Within this framework, the ITA is in charge of the overall anti-doping strategy, which includes the definition of a precise and targeted testing plan. This plan is applied on the basis of a risk assessment that takes into account a wide variety of relevant factors whilst constantly adapting to current circumstances or new information. The testing plan also considers any relevant information received through the monitoring of the athletes’ Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) or gathered by the ITA’s Intelligence & Investigations Department.

All doping controls at the Tour de France will be targeted and performed at any time throughout the three-week race, not only at the finish line. At every stage, the yellow jersey and stage winner will be tested. Additionally, all athletes will already be tested before the start of the event as part of their medical monitoring. At the end of the race, the ITA will make a selection of samples that will be kept for potential re-analysis over the next 10 years.

Doping controls will mainly be conducted by the ITA’s Doping Control Officers (DCOs) with in-depth cycling experience. The ITA is also in close contact with other relevant French and international actors, for example with authorities, for support and exchange of information.

It should be remembered that 2023 has seen a significant increase in funding for cycling’s anti-doping programme . The UCI, UCI WorldTeams, UCI ProTeams, UCI WorldTour organisers and men’s professional road cyclists decided to further strengthen the capacity of the ITA to protect the integrity of the sport thanks to a progressive 35% budget increase up until the end of 2024. This funding principally reinforces the areas of Intelligence & Investigations, testing, scientific analysis, data analysis, long-term sample storage and sample re-analysis.

The Director General of the ITA Benjamin Cohen said: “We are looking forward to delivering the anti-doping programme for this major cycling race for the third time under the responsibility of the ITA and in collaboration with our partners to ensure a level playing field during the event. As the testing operations for this event are already at a vigorous level, the additional resources stemming from the decision of the cycling stakeholders to further protect the sport from doping will allow us to step up in other relevant areas of the clean sport programme for the Tour de France and throughout the year. Most notably, it allows us to invest more in intelligence and investigations, an area that has proven to be very effective and complementary to the testing regime. We are steadfast in our commitment to ensure a clean and fair competition environment for all participants in this highly anticipated event.”

When it comes to the fight against technological fraud at the Tour de France, controls for the presence of any possible propulsion systems hidden in tubes and other bike components will be carried out with the use of three tools: magnetic tablets, mobile X-Ray cabinet and portable devices using backscatter and transmission technologies.

Before each of the 21 stages, a UCI Technical Commissaire will be at the team buses to check all bikes being ridden at the start of that day’s stage. These pre-stage checks will be carried out using magnetic tablets.

After each stage , checks will be carried out on bikes ridden by:

the stage winner

riders wearing a leader’s jersey (yellow, green, polka dot, white)

three to four randomly-selected riders

riders who give rise to suspicion, for example following the pre-stage scan, an abnormally high number of bike changes (in which case the bikes on the team car can also be checked) or other incidents picked up by the UCI Video Commissaire

These post-stage checks will be carried out using either mobile X-Ray technology or devices that use backscatter and transmission technologies. If necessary, the bike in question will be dismantled.

Once the riders have crossed the finish line, the bikes subject to post-stage checks will be quickly tagged, enabling rapid control procedures to be carried out in a matter of minutes. The introduction of RFID tagging (tamper-proof tags using radio frequency identification technology) for all bicycles as part of the UCI Road Equipment Registration Procedure for the 2023 Tour de France and Tour de France Women with Zwift strengthens the UCI's ability to monitor the use of bicycles throughout the stages.

As a reminder, the mobile X-Ray technology, which is safe for users and riders, provides high resolution X-Ray image of a complete bike in just five minutes. Meanwhile the backscatter and transmission technology provides instantaneous high resolution images of the interior of the sections examined that can be transmitted, remotely, directly to the UCI Commissaires.

For road cycling, the UCI carries out bike checks at all UCI WorldTour events, as well as the UCI Road World Championships, UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup, UCI Women’s WorldTour events and the Olympic Games. Controls are also carried out at UCI World Championships for mountain bike, cyclo-cross and track as well as the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup.

At last year’s Tour de France, a total of 934 bike checks were carried out and no cases of technological fraud were detected.

UCI Director General Amina Lanaya said: "The UCI continues to take the possibility of technological fraud very seriously. Our range of tools to combat all forms of cheating using a motor enables us to carry out rapid and effective checks. With the introduction of RFID tags on all the bikes, the UCI has the ability to monitor the use of the bikes during the race. This is essential to guarantee the fairness of cycling competitions and to protect the integrity of the sport and its athletes."

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27 June 2023

The ITA is ready to deliver a robust anti-doping program for the 2023 Tour de France

The international testing agency (ita), leading the cycling clean sport efforts on behalf of the union cycliste internationale (uci), is prepared to protect fair play at the tour de france through a comprehensive anti-doping program. after already ensuring a level playing field at the giro d’italia in may, the ita is collaborating with all involved stakeholders, including the french authorities, to protect clean sport at one of the world’s most prestigious cycling events..

It is the third time that the ITA will independently lead the clean sport program for the Tour de France since the delegation of cycling’s anti-doping activities by the UCI. The ITA is in charge of the overall clean sport strategy for the French Grand Tour, including the definition of an intelligence-led testing plan. This plan is applied on the basis of a bespoke risk assessment that takes into account a weighed variety of relevant factors whilst constantly adapting to current circumstances or new information through permanent monitoring. The testing plan also considers any relevant information received through the monitoring of the athletes’ Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) and any insights gathered by the ITA’s Intelligence & Investigations department.

All doping controls at the Tour de France will be targeted and performed anytime over the course of the three-week race, not only at the finish line. At every stage, the yellow jersey and stage winner will be tested. Additionally, all athletes will already be tested before the start of the event as part of their medical monitoring. At the end of the race, the ITA will make a selection of samples that will be kept for potential re-analysis over the next 10 years.

Doping controls will mainly be conducted by the ITA’s own Doping Control Officer (DCO) force with in-depth cycling experience. For the roll-out of the anti-doping program, the ITA collaborates with the French National Anti-Doping Organisation (AFLD), who will offer support with their doping control personnel. The ITA is also in close contact with other relevant French and international actors, for example with authorities at different sectoral levels, for support and information-exchange.

Furthermore, 2023 marks the first year of increased resources to foster fairer cycling . The UCI, UCI WorldTeams, UCI ProTeams, UCI WorldTour organisers, and men’s Professional Road Cyclists have decided to strengthen the ITA’s capacity to protect the integrity of the sport with a gradual 35% budget increase until the end of 2024. This funding primarily supports areas such as Intelligence & Investigations (I&I), testing, science, data analysis, long-term sample storage, and sample re-analysis.

“We are looking forward to delivering the anti-doping program for this major cycling race for the third time under the responsibility of the ITA and in collaboration with our partners to ensure a level playing field during the event,” said ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen. “As the testing operations for this event are already at a vigorous level, the additional resources stemming from the decision of the cycling stakeholders to further protect the sport from doping will allow us to step up in other relevant areas of the clean sport program for the Tour de France and throughout the year. Most notably, it allows us to invest more in intelligence and investigations, an area that has proven to be very effective and complementary to the testing regime. We are steadfast in our commitment to ensure a clean and fair competition environment for all participants in this highly anticipated event.”

Related News

2 December 2022

More resources for more impact: Cycling’s stakeholders increase funding of the UCI anti-doping program managed by the ITA

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110. Tour de France Der Doping-Verdacht fährt weiter mit

Stand: 01.07.2023 18:41 Uhr

Die Tour de France ist in ihre 110. Ausgabe gestartet. Nach turbulenten Jahren mit riesigen Doping-Skandalen vermitteln Vertreter der Szene gerne den Eindruck, man sei in der Normalität eines sauberen Sports angekommen. Doch davon ist der Radsport weit entfernt, wie eine Bestandsaufnahme der ARD-Dopingredaktion zeigt.

Phil Bauhaus blickte am Start der Slowenien-Rundfahrt vor einigen Tagen genervt in die Kamera. Das Thema Doping sei "grundsätzlich natürlich immer doof", sagte der deutsche Fahrer des Teams Bahrain Victorious: "Das kommt immer auf zur Tour de France, sonst natürlich nie." Er bezeichnete diesen Umstand sarkastisch als "komischen Zufall".   

Doping bleibt ein Reizthema in der Szene. Von einer Rückkehr zur Normalität, von der Funktionäre, Sponsoren und auch Fahrer nach den riesigen Doping-Skandalen rund um die Jahrtausendwende gerne sprechen, ist der Radsport weit entfernt.  

WADA-Statistik: 1.522 Dopingfälle in acht Jahren

Noch immer laufen in mehreren Ländern Ermittlungen, noch immer beschäftigen Spitzenteams hochbelastete Akteure. Noch immer funktioniert die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Anti-Doping-Einrichtungen und staatlichen Behörden offenbar nur unzureichend. Und noch immer liefert der Radsport Hunderte Dopingfälle. Auffällig: Nur beim bedeutendsten Rennen überhaupt scheint alles sauber zu sein. Seit 2015, seit Luca Paolini nach einem positiven Test auf Kokain abreisen musste, hat es bei der Tour de France keinen einzigen offiziellen Dopingfall mehr gegeben.

Die Welt-Anti-Doping-Agentur WADA vermerkt in ihren Listen - nur die von 2013 bis 2020 sind derzeit öffentlich einsehbar - penibel offizielle Dopingfälle. Im Radsport sind es in diesem Zeitraum insgesamt: 1.522. Selbst den "Spitzenreiter" lässt der Radsport de facto hinter sich: In der Leichtathletik werden zwar 1.757 sogenannte ADRVs (Anti-Doping-Regelverstöße) verzeichnet, dort wird aber auch häufiger getestet. Die Quote der Ertappten ist im Radsport (0,85 Prozent bei 178.167 Tests) höher als in der Leichtathletik (0,77 Prozent bei 229.307 Tests). Wie realistisch ist es also angesichts solcher Zahlen, dass ausgerechnet beim größten Straßenradrennen der Welt, der Tour de France, niemand dopt?  

An hoher Abschreckung durch ein effektives Anti-Doping-System liegt es offensichtlich nicht, dass seit acht Jahren bei der "großen Schleife" niemand mehr aufflog. Beispiel Slowenien: Bei einem Besuch der Nationalen Anti-Doping-Agentur des kleinen Landes, das seit dem Aufstieg der Überflieger Tadej Pogačar und Primož Roglič im Zentrum vieler Verdächtigungen steht, offenbarten sich der ARD-Dopingredaktion bemerkenswerte Defizite. 

Sloweniens NADA-Chef: Doping "kommt aus dem Ausland"

Janko Dvoršak bringt als Chef der slowenischen NADA, so sollte man meinen, schon qua Amt den weltweit dominierenden Radprofis aus dem Zwei-Millonen-Einwohner-Staat und den Strukturen dahinter ein Mindestmaß an Misstrauen entgegen. Stattdessen stellt er einen merkwürdigen Persilschein aus: "Für Doping braucht es Technologie und Geld. Diese Bedingungen gibt es nicht in Slowenien. Ich glaube, das kommt hauptsächlich aus dem Ausland."

Details der "Operation Aderlass" um den Erfurter Blutdoping-Doktor Mark S. kennt er nur aus den Medien, sagt Dvoršak. Dabei führen im größten Dopingskandal der vergangenen Jahre außerhalb Russlands viele Spuren nach Slowenien. Wegen Kontakten zu den Erfurter Blutpanschern wurden unter anderem Kristjan Koren und Borut Bozic gesperrt, beides Slowenen aus dem Team Bahrain.

Milan Erzen, der aktuelle Manager der Equipe, ist ebenfalls Slowene. Er wurde von Marc S. nach dessen Festnahme in einer Vernehmung des Zolls schwer belastet. Erzen habe, so S. in seiner Aussage, reges Interesse an einer Geschäftsbeziehung sowie am Erwerb einer Maschine zur Blutaufbereitung gezeigt, erklärte ein Ermittler während der Münchner Prozesse zur "Operation Aderlass". Erzen bestreitet beides.

"Ermittlungen gehen uns nichts an"

"Die Ermittlungen sind Sache der Polizei und gehen uns nichts an. Strafverfolgung und Anti-Doping-Arbeit müssen klar getrennt sein", sagt Sloweniens oberster Doping-Bekämpfer Dvoršak - und widerspricht damit den jüngsten, investigativen Bestrebungen der WADA. Auch Amina Lanaya, Generaldirektorin des Weltverbandes UCI, hatte zuletzt die Notwendigkeit einer besseren Vernetzung mit staatlichen Stellen betont: "Für mich sind Tests nicht mehr das wichtigste Instrument im Kampf gegen Doping. Aufklärungsarbeit und Nachforschung sind es. Wir müssen Hand in Hand mit den Polizeibehörden arbeiten."

Die heimische NADA führt die slowenischen Top-Fahrer um Pogačar und Roglič nicht mal in ihrem Testpool. Dvoršak betont, für die Kontrollen sei der Weltverband und die von der UCI beauftragte Internationale Test-Agentur ITA zuständig. Dabei mahnt die WADA in ihren Testrichtlinien: "Auch wenn Athleten auf nationaler Ebene nicht im Land der nationalen Anti-Doping-Organisation trainieren, ist dennoch die NADA dafür verantwortlich, dass diese Athleten Kontrollen im Ausland unterzogen werden."

Ermittlungsstatus unklar

2021 und 2022 gab es vor beziehungsweise während der Tour de France Razzien beim Team Bahrain. Etliche Betreuer und einige der Fahrer des Rennstalls stammen aus Slowenien. Wie der Status der Ermittlungen staatlicher Behörden gegen das Team ist, ist unklar. Eurojust, die mit dem Fall vertraute Agentur der Europäischen Union für justizielle Zusammenarbeit in Strafsachen, verwies an die Staatsanwaltschaft Marseille. Die wiederum wollte auf ARD-Anfrage nur bestätigen, dass in der Causa noch ermittelt werde.

Ähnlich dürftig ist die Informationslage in Spanien. Dort läuft seit Anfang 2021 die "Operacion Ilex" gegen ein mögliches neues Dopingnetzwerk. Auch hier heißt es: Die Ermittlungen dauern an. Das kasachische Pro-Tour-Team Astana suspendierte im Zuge dessen im vergangenen Jahr bereits seinen kolumbianischen Top-Star Miguel Angel Lopez. Kurz zuvor war bekannt geworden, dass Lopez in Verbindung mit den Ermittlungen der spanischen Guardia Civil steht. Der Fahrer bestreitet jegliches Fehlverhalten. 

Zu den Beschuldigten gehört auch Vicente Belda Garcia, der ehemalige Physiotherapeut des Teams Astana. Er lehnt auf ARD-Anfrage einen Kommentar zu möglichen Doping-Verstrickungen ab. Belda wird vom möglichen Drahtzieher des Netzwerks, Marcos Maynar, beschuldigt. Der Biophysiker soll nach Erkenntnissen der Ermittler in Russland und anderen Ländern verbotene Substanzen erworben und an Radsportler verkauft haben. Er war für eine Stellungnahme nicht zu erreichen.  

Hämoglobin vom Wattwurm

Ebenfalls im Visier der Ermittler ist der langjährige Kelme-Team-Manager Vicente Belda, Vater des Physiotherapeuten Vicente junior. Vicente senior stand einst in engem Kontakt zu Eufemiano Fuentes, dem Drahtzieher im größten Doping-Fall der Radsportgeschichte: der Operacion Puerto, die letztlich auch Jan Ullrich zu Fall brachte. Womöglich gibt es sie noch im Radsport, die alten Seilschaften.  

Immer neu befeuert werden die Gerüchte über "Mittel der Wahl" innerhalb des Pelotons. Zuletzt im Gespräch: eine Substanz aus dem Hämoglobin des Wattwurms, dessen Blut 40-mal mehr Sauerstoff speichern kann als das menschliche.  

Keine Tour de France ohne Doping-Verdacht - das gilt auch im Jahr 2023.

• Tour de France

Dieses Thema im Programm: Das Erste | Sportschau | 29.06.2023 | 18:27 Uhr

Tour de France team under investigation for suspected doping, two in custody

French police detained two people on Monday as part of an investigation into suspected doping at this year’s Tour de France in the Arkea-Samsic team, prosecutors announced.

Issued on: 21/09/2020 - 23:50

The probe is the first significant one in several years for the repeatedly scandal-hit tour which wrapped up on Sunday in Paris with a victory for 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar , who became the youngest winner in more than a century. 

In a statement, prosecutor Dominique Laurens in the southern city of Marseille said that an investigation was being carried out into a “small part” of Arkea-Samsic, without specifying who had been placed in custody.

Laurens added that the two people had “many health products including drugs in their personal belongings, but also and above all a method that can be qualified as doping”.

The general manager of the French team, Emmanuel Hubert, told AFP he was supporting his riders.

“But if it turned out that at the end of the current investigation, elements came to confirm the truth of doping practices, the team would immediately dissociate itself from such acts and would take the necessary measures without delay,” he said.

A source familiar with the matter told AFP that the searches had targeted several riders including Colombia’s Dayer Quintana, brother of team leader and former Giro d’Italia winner Nairo Quintana, as well as members of the medical team.

French daily Le Parisien reported that the two in custody were a doctor and physiotherapist.

Team not targeted ‘directly’

The probe will come as a huge disappointment to organisers just a day after positive headlines about the against-the-odds organisation of the race and the last-minute drama that saw Pogacar seize victory on his first Tour de France.

Many had predicted the Covid-19 pandemic would prevent the riders making it the 3,400 kilometres from the Mediterranean city of Nice to the French capital.

Arkea-Samsic team manager Hubert said the probe only involved “a very limited number of riders, as well as their close entourage who are not employed by the team”.

He added that the investigation “does not target the team or its staff directly”.

According to the prosecutor, the investigation is focused on the prescription of a substance or banned method for athletes, as well as help and encouragement in the use of that substance or method.

The charges can lead to up to five years in prison and a 75,000-euro ($88,000) fine.

Arkea-Samsic leader Nairo Quintana finished the Tour in 17 th place, more than an hour behind the winner Pogacar. Quintana’s teammate Warren Barguil finished in 14 th place, 31 minutes from Pogacar.

The Tour de France has suffered repeated scandals over the years.

One of the biggest occurred in 1998 when customs officials stopped a vehicle laden with doping products, leading the Festina team to be thrown off the race as the peloton staggered into Paris.

US star rider Lance Armstrong , who won from 1999-2005, caused further outrage and disappointment for fans by admitting to doping . He was eventually stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

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Tour champion Vingegaard still hopes to be in 'top shape' for this year's race after bad crash

Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, just a month after a bad crash that left him several broken ribs and a collapsed lung

PARIS — Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, just a month after a bad crash that left him several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

And the Danish rider is still hoping to compete at this year’s Tour, which starts in seven weeks.

“I feel good, it’s improving day by day,” Vingegaard said in a video released by his team, Visma–Lease a Bike. “I still have some things to recover from, but it’s going better and better. Of course I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France. We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go, but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”