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The fitness tracker market has exploded in the past few years, and heavy hitters like Fitbit have attempted to carve out as large a market share as possible before their competition can catch up. The original Moov addressed the necessity of finding their own niche within the industry by positioning themselves as a portable personal trainer as opposed to a standard fitness tracker. After spending a week with the brand’s second iteration, the Moov NOW, I can comfortably say that the company has succeeded in that goal, while also improving on its predecessor in terms of design and activity tracking.

While I never tried out the original Moov, one of the most common complaints I’ve seen while reading about it online was the bulkiness of the tracker. The Moov NOW has gotten drastically better in this regard, with the new sensor coming in at about a third of the size of the original, while still packing the same accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer technology that allows it to track all of the data that it does.

Additionally, the strap of the Moov NOW is a great success. I have never worn a watch, so one of my greatest concerns was comfort. To my surprise, I never really found myself distracted by the contraption; this can be credited to its easy-fitting strap of silicon mesh and the light weight of the tracker as a whole. The sensor sits in a tight saddle that allows for full motion of the wrist while keeping the sensor secure from falling out mid-workout. The Moov NOW also comes with a larger strap for your ankle, which can be used when cycling and running.

While its design is well executed, the feature that really sets the Moov NOW apart from the rest of the fitness tracker market is its function as a personal trainer that lives in your phone. After downloading the accompanying app and syncing your phone with your tracker (as simple as hooking up to a Bluetooth speaker), you are brought to the app's homepage, where you can access your stats and choose from a variety of workouts, ranging from walking, jogging, and cycling to swimming laps, cardio boxing, and a “get toned in under 10 minutes” routine.

Another complaint of the original Moov I read often about was the fact that each workout regiment required the download of a different app, which I can imagine would be annoying. Moov NOW has addressed this complaint well, with every workout contained in one app, eliminating the need to toggle through your phone in the middle of your gym session.

When it comes to the programs offered by the app, the ones I was able to try out varied in quality but were good overall. The personal trainer aspect of the Moov NOW is extremely active and engaging, constantly pushing you to go further and improve your form. I was fairly blown away with how specific an instruction it was capable of giving; at some points Sara (Moov did not name the voice of their trainer a la “Siri” so I took it upon myself to name her Sara) would tell me to “land softer on my feet” or “unclench my fists” while jogging. Maybe I’m too easily impressed by technology in 2016, but the fact that a sensor the size of a nickel attached to my wrist could tell how hard I was landing on a jog was striking.

One of the biggest benefits I can see coming to those hoping to kick-start a workout regiment is how regularly Sara pushed me to go further or up my pace. She would regularly encourage me to raise the level of my workout, and always reminded me to keep my pace up if I was falling behind. This adds a degree of gamification to the workout process in a way that is easy to track; it’s always fun to beat your own high score. 

I will say, Sara’s voice could get pretty grating sometimes. I listen to music while I workout, as I imagine many of you do, and Sara would often cut in too frequently and too loudly. There was an option for less interruptions during your workout, which I later applied, but even then I couldn’t help but think that sometimes the presence of the coach was grating, especially when I was doing just fine on my own. I enjoyed being reminded that I needed to keep up my speed if I wanted to stay on pace, but there were moments where Sara functioned less as a personal trainer and more like Navi from the original Zelda games.

Overall though, I had a positive experience with the Moov NOW; aside from Sara’s overeagerness to encourage me sometimes, I didn’t have any big problems with it. This was my first experience with a fitness tracker. From what I’ve read, there are others on the market that offer more detailed data in terms of your workouts and sleep cycle, but for my liking, I found everything I felt I wanted to know about my workout within the app and didn’t find that much was lacking. Some have been frustrated that they have to bring their phone with them on every workout, that never bothered me, as I don't really do anything without headphones plugged in (although I would understand your pain if you were hauling around an iPhone 6 Plus).

For anyone struggling to maintain their resolution to “get fit” in 2016, I found that the Moov NOW is an extremely accessible and convenient fitness tracker that could help keep you on your path. It can’t do the work for you (obviously), but if you are committed to getting up and active everyday, the Moov NOW will help to track those sessions and push you to continue improving, which is definitely a resource.

BUY: Moov NOW, $79.99, available at Amazon.

SEE ALSO: 8 exercise headphones that will make it easier to work out this year

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DON'T MISS: 8 gadgets that’ll help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions

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Drivers in Los Angeles spend an average of 90 hours a year stuck in traffic. But back in the 1890s, California imagined a different future for the city's streets.

The state planned to build a for-profit, six-mile bike-only highway only for bikes that would stretch from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles. It was the brainchild of Pasadena resident Horace Dobbins, who began construction after city approval in 1897.

Three years later, it opened as an elevated tollway that collected 10 cents per biker, or about $2.50 in today's money.

Only 1.3 miles of the cycleway were actually built. The city tore it down a decade later since it never made a profit. 

The cycleway may sound like a far-fetched idea today, but at the time, most Americans moved through cities by foot, Norton tells Tech Insider. City folk weren't yet sure if they should adopt cars.

"Many experts and ordinary people agreed that cars didn't really belong in cities,"says historian and author Peter Norton. "They made a lot of sense in the country, but in the city, they demanded too much space, drove pedestrians off the streets, and injured too many people."

The California Cycleway likely failed because it was meant for recreation, rather than for efficient commutes, says Norton. For those who rode bikes as an inexpensive way to get around, the toll seemed steep. The timing of the construction was also unfortunate; the Cycleway was built just as recreational cycling was going out of fashion.

Local cycling clubs and activist groups like the League of American Wheelmen competed against powerful auto manufacturers and wealthy car owners.

"The future was not so much a natural evolution, but more a struggle for control," Norton says.

Today, most city infrastructure is still planned around the needs of cars. But many cities (especially European ones) are trying to change that by building extensive bike lanes and improving public transit. Oslo recently announced that it will ban cars from its city center by 2019, and Madrid plans to do the same by 2020. The city of Copenhagen is also building 26 cycling superhighways that will span 186 miles.

Although it'd be a giant feat, Norton says a similar cycleway could work in California and elsewhere in the US.

"The sheer madness of America's lavish energy consumption and public health disasters have compelled people to look for good alternatives, and there are plenty," he says.

SEE ALSO: The 5 most innovative electric bikes in the world

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NOW WATCH: For $7,000 this bike will get you to work in half the time and keep you from breaking a sweat

The owner of the world's largest annual sporting event, the Tour de France, has dealt cycling's governing body a massive blow in a political war that has renewed infighting in the sport over power, money, and the future of professional cycling.

After the Amaury Sport Organisation rejected reforms announced by the International Cycling Union in December, it made a counter-announcement that starting in 2017 it would be pulling its races — notably cycling's crown jewel, the Tour — from the highest level of the sport, known as the WorldTour.

That could spell disaster for teams and riders, not to mention threaten the existence of the WorldTour. It could mean some teams that normally enjoy an automatic invite to the Tour would be left out, and that in turn could see sponsors taking their money home and quitting the sport, unless the two factions come to an agreement, which appears far from happening.

The rift has sent shockwaves through the world of cycling. Here's a deeper look at the ASO-UCI deadlock, the latest in a complex, long-simmering conflict:

SEE ALSO: One of the hottest things in cycling right now is riding your bike someplace far and then taking the train home

UCI and Brian Cookson

On one side of the conflict is the UCI, the governing body of world cycling, based in Switzerland. Its aims include globalizing pro cycling and making the sport financially sustainable. Its president, Brian Cookson, has been involved in cycling at many levels for decades. He's halfway through his first four-year term in office.

His objectives, according to the UCI website, are "to rebuild trust in the UCI, transform the way anti-doping is dealt with, grow the sport globally, develop women's cycling, overhaul elite road cycling and strengthen cycling's credibility and influence within the Olympic Movement."

ASO and Jean-Étienne Amaury

On the other side is the ASO, a private, closely held French company that owns the Tour de France, the world's premier bicycle race, the Paris Marathon, the Dakar Rally, Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Spain, and other events. The ASO is part of the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury, which publishes the sports daily L'Equipe. ASO's president is Jean-Étienne Amaury. He holds an MBA from Stanford and previously worked at Bloomberg.

A sport divided

The chief issue in the current conflict has to do with racing licenses and what they mean both to the races and to the teams.

As it is, each of the 18 teams in the WorldTour, pro cycling's highest level, gets a one-year license and automatic entry to the Tour de France. In its reforms, the UCI aimed to extend the licenses to three years. It hoped that by granting teams longer licenses and three automatic Tour invites, it would help them become more successful in attracting longer-term sponsors. That, many say, would help the sport as a whole become more financially stable, since sponsoring a pro cycling team for one year is seen as a high-risk business proposition — especially if that team is not guaranteed a start in the world's premier bicycle race.

A majority of the teams voted in favor of the reforms.

At least three top teams will be shut out of the 2017 Tour de France.

However, the ASO ultimately rejected the UCI reforms, characterizing the WorldTour as a "closed sport system" and arguing that three-year licenses would compromise the quality of its races by failing to uphold the "sporting criterion" and make races such as the Tour less competitive. The ASO thinks teams should have to prove their worth every year in a more "open" sport with no auto invites.

So the ASO registered all its races, notably the Tour, as "Hors Classe" (HC), and not in the top-tier WorldTour. By doing so, the ASO ensures that the Tour stays within a promotion-relegation system, whereby, in theory, the best teams rise to the top and the worst drop out, similar to the system used in European football. In actuality, it means that every year a few teams get relegated down to pro cycling's second division (Pro Continental) and a few teams get moved up to the first division (WorldTour). And, very importantly, it means that the ASO gets to invite whichever teams it wants to its races.

The catch, as VeloNews reports, is that "HC fields cannot comprise more than 70 percent WorldTour teams. In a 22-team field, that means no more than 15 WT teams, so at least three top teams will be shut out of the 2017 Tour de France. But ASO could invite even fewer ...

"Teams will no longer be able to guarantee a highly valuable Tour spot to sponsors, potentially making them less stable, particularly those near the bottom of the current WorldTour. Riders suffer from unstable teams that are prone to collapse or other financial difficulties. ASO is openly mocking the UCI’s WorldTour system."

Cycling authorities have finally caught a unicorn.

A Belgian cyclist is facing the end of her short career after she was caught riding a motorised bicycle in the world cyclocross championship in Zolder, Belgium.

"It's absolutely clear that there was technological fraud," Bryan Cookson, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), said.

"There was a concealed motor. I don't think there are any secrets about that."

Known as "bike doping," hidden motors have been little more than a rumour.

In September 2015, Business Insider reported that 34-year-old Belarusian Vasil Kiryienka was subjected to the same scrutiny after becoming the fastest time trialist on the planet:

The UCI didn’t find a motor, and the rider was allowed to accept his gold medal and rainbow jersey.

Pro cyclists have since been subjected to being whipped off immediately after crossing the finish line to have the bikes inspected "as part of an ongoing effort to root out what has, thus far, proven to be a unicorn of a rule violation — a bike that powers itself,” VeloNews reported in July last year.

"Though the technology does exist, few pros seem to think it feasible."

But now, the practice can't be denied and the world of pro cycling has a whole new headache.

Teenager Femke Van den Driessche was in tears after the race, and is claiming she was unaware the bike had a tiny motor, saying it was belonged to a friend.

Identical to hers, she said it given to her accidentally by a mechanic.

But whether she will have to serve a ban is not the main issue. The point is, "bike doping" can be done, and cannot be denied any longer.

Read a full, updated report here: 

A 19-year-old Belgian cyclist got caught cheating at the world championships after racing a bike that had a motor hidden in the frame

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NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes," Andy Warhol is credited as having said. In the mind of Czech cyclist Adam Ťoupalík, it was more like 15 seconds.

At the world championships of cyclocross in Belgium on Sunday, the 19-year-old sprinted up to the finish line ahead of his rivals and began celebrating, thinking he'd just won gold.

Only problem was, there was still a lap to go in the race:

Ťoupalík said the confusion came after he heard fans shouting"last lap," VeloNews reported. Belgian rider Eli Iserbyt ended up winning the race, with Ťoupalík second.

But the biggest story of the weekend was that another 19-year-old rider got caught cheating after racing on a bike that had a motor hidden in the frame.

SEE ALSO: A 19-year-old Belgian cyclist got caught cheating at the world championships after racing a bike that had a motor hidden in the frame

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NOW WATCH: This guy quit his job and rode his bike across the world

Cycling officials on Saturday detained a bicycle during the cyclocross world championships in Zolder, Belgium, to investigate "technological fraud," and on Sunday they confirmed the bike had a concealed motor in the frame.

The International Cycling Union said the bike belonged to 19-year-old Belgian Femke Van den Driessche.

It is the first official case of "mechanical doping" or "bike doping" at cycling's highest level. If used at the right time during a race even a small motor can provide a critical burst of power and speed.

Italian manufacturer Wilier Triestina said it will sue Van den Driessche.

For years there has been speculation in cycling that motorized cheating might be happening at the sport's highest professional level, but it has never been revealed until now.

'Technological fraud'

"It's absolutely clear that there was technological fraud — there was a concealed motor," UCI President Brian Cookson told a news conference, AFP reported.

The rider, Van den Driessche, was among the race favorites but was forced to withdraw from the women's under-23 event because of a mechanical problem. Belgian news site Sporza reported that there were "electrical cables" seen coming out of the bike.

'It wasn't my bike'

Van den Driessche denied she had used a bike with a concealed motor on purpose, saying that it was identical to her own but belonged to a friend and that a team mechanic had given it to her by mistake before the race, AFP reported.

"It wasn't my bike — it was that of a friend and was identical to mine,"a tearful Van den Driessche told Sporza, AFP reported. "This friend went around the course Saturday before dropping off the bike in the truck. A mechanic, thinking it was my bike, cleaned it and prepared it for my race," she added, insisting that she was "totally unaware" it was fitted with a hidden motor.

"I feel really terrible. I'm aware I have a big problem. (But) I have no fears of an inquiry into this. I have done nothing wrong," she added. AFP also reported that Belgian coach Rudy De Bie said he was "disgusted."

"We thought that we had in Femke a great talent in the making but it seems that she fooled everyone," he told Sporza. Sven Nys, a veteran of cyclocross and one of its best riders, said he was shocked and disappointed.

"We've heard some stories for a long time now about the possibility of this. We have been alive to a potential way that people might cheat and we have been testing a number of bikes and a number of events for several months," Cookson said, according to AFP.

"I am committed and the UCI is committed to protecting the riders who do not want to cheat in whatever form and to make sure that the right riders win the race. We have been looking at different methods of testing this kind of technology and we tested a number of bikes yesterday and one was found.

"We will keep testing both at this event and subsequent events. Whether this means that there is widespread use of this form of cheating remains to be seen."

Cookson said that the matter would next go before the UCI's disciplinary commission.

Here come the lawsuits

Bike manufacturer Wilier Triestina's managing director, Andrea Gastaldello, said he was "stunned" by the news that Van den Driessche competed with a concealed motor in her Wilier Triestina bike, AP reported Monday.

"Our company will take legal action against the athlete and against any (person) responsible for this very serious matter to safeguard the reputation and image of the company," he said.

Here is the full statement:

We are literally shocked, as the main technical partner, we want to distance from this act absolutely contrary to the basic values of our company, and with the principles of each sporting competition. Really unacceptable that the photos of our bike is making the rounds of the international media due to this unpleasant fact. We work every day to bring worldwide the quality of our products and when we know that a Wilier Triestina’s bike is meanly tampered we’re very sad. Our Company will take legal action against the athlete and against any responsible for this very serious matter, in order to safeguard the good name and image of the company, marked by professionalism and seriousness in 110 years of history.

A Sporza journalist, Renaat Schotte, posted this photo on Instagram on Sunday. It apparently shows an official checking a different bike for technological fraud with a tablet device:

Call for 'lifetime suspension'

Etixx team manager Patrick Lefevere called for a "lifetime suspension for the cheat."

"I never thought that such schemes were possible. It's a scandal that Femke's entourage have deceived the Belgian federation," he said.

The news is a fresh blow to a sport still recovering from the Lance Armstrong doping scandal after the disgraced American cyclist admitted to cheating throughout his career in 2013 following years of denials and ruthless attacks on his accusers, AFP noted.

The UCI has been taking the possibility of technological fraud more seriously over the past few years. New penalties include disqualification, a suspension of six months, and a fine of up to 200,000 Swiss francs (about $195,000). Teams could be fined 1 million francs (roughly $977,500).

Here are the UCI rules and penalties regarding technological fraud (PDF):

Business Insider reported in September from the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia, that the winner of the elite men's individual time trial, Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus, had his bike inspected for a motor after he crossed the finish line.

This photo, provided to Business Insider, showed the device used to inspect the inside of Kiryienka's frame:

When asked by Business Insider about the inspection in Richmond, the UCI replied:

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) takes extremely seriously the issue of technological fraud such as concealed electric motors in bikes, and has therefore added far-reaching sanctions in its Regulations. We have been carrying out controls for many years and although those controls have never found any evidence of such fraud, we know we must be vigilant. We have carried out several unannounced checks on this year’s Tour de France and other Grand Tours. The 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond is the latest event where bikes have been controlled this season, including all top 3 riders of each race. These are extensive controls and nothing was found.

No motor was found in Kiryienka's bike.

This video by CyclingTips features Greg LeMond, the only American to win the Tour de France, showing how one version of a bike motor works:

“I believe it’s been used in racing [and] I believe it’s been used sometimes in the Grand Tours,” LeMond told the Associated Press last summer.

And here's another video showing a bike motor in action:

At the 2015 Giro d'Italia, the most important stage race after the Tour, an official was shown on video checking eventual race winner Alberto Contador's bike:

There are videos on YouTube that purport to show images of mechanical doping, and show that the matter goes back some time. This clip, for instance, shows Canadian Ryder Hesjedal's bike after he crashed at the 2014 Tour of Spain. His rear wheel appears to keep spinning after the crash, so much so that it whips the bike around on the ground after he comes to a stop:

The video below — which has over 3.8 million views on YouTube — claims to show "how mechanic doping may be done," with images of Swiss pro Fabian Cancellara that "may be considered as incontrovertible evidences." It's important to note that Cancellara and his team denied all of this long ago, and they were never penalized or fined.

In the elite women's race later on Saturday, another Belgian rider took a dramatic over-the-bars tumble but managed to get up and keep racing:

SEE ALSO: This is the 'hidden motor' everyone's been talking about since a 'mechanical doping' scandal rocked pro racing

DON'T MISS: Millionaire entrepreneur explains why cycling — and not golf — is the new sport of choice for young professionals

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NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

Belgian cyclist Femke Van den Driessche was caught riding a motorized bicycle in the world cyclocross championship in Zolder, Belgium. Van den Driessche denied that she had been cheating and claimed the bike didn’t belong to her.

Produced by Jacqui Frank. Original reporting by Daniel McMahon.

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Pro cycling was rocked over the weekend when 19-year-old Belgian rider Femke Van den Driessche, competing in the cyclocross world championships, was caught with a bicycle that had a motor hidden in the frame, and since then many have been talking about one Austrian company's product: the Vivax Assist.

The sport's governing body, the UCI, told Business Insider on Tuesday that it wouldn't comment at this time on what type of motor was actually found in the bike, stating that "the procedure must now follow its course until the UCI Disciplinary Commission renders its decision."

For her part, Van den Driessche said it wasn't her bike and insisted she was "totally unaware" it was fitted with a hidden motor.

In the meantime, curious observers are talking about the Vivax Assist, a small motor that's inserted into a bike frame and activated by pushing a button that's installed on the handlebar. It weighs about 4 pounds, can produce up to 110 watts of power, and costs $3,000.

Company condemns those who would race with a motor

Business Insider spoke on Tuesday with Vivax's Ulrike Treichl, who's in charge of the company's marketing and PR. She said she was shocked upon hearing the news over the weekend that a competitive cyclist had been caught with a hidden motor in her bike, but made it clear that Vivax has no idea whether or not the motor used was one of its own.

"We can't say if she used our motor, but of course maybe she used it," Treichl said. "We don't know. For us it is very disappointing when a product that can bring great benefit to many customers is used for other intents, for that is really unacceptable.

"The system is not intended for use in competition," she added. "This was not in the mind of the inventor. And we'd like to say we condemn the use of the Vivax Assist system in competition."

Treichl said Vivax sells 1,200 motors a year and is the only company in Europe that makes such a product. Vivax does not deliver to private persons but works strictly through distributors.

No one connected to the cyclist had purchased products from Vivax, Treichl added.

The GIF below shows how the Vivax Assist works. (This is a mountain bike, but the system works roughly the same way on a road or cyclocross bike.)

"We also welcome the inspection of the UCI, and hope that a rethink in competitive sport takes place, and that fairness is first and forward again," Treichl said. "We'd like to sell the Vivax only to cyclists who use additional assistance if needed, and not to people who are going to competition."

In this video by CyclingTips, you can see the Vivax Assist in action:

One local Vivax dealer's take

One of Vivax's "premium dealers" in Belgium, Bart Daems of 't Wieleke bike shop, which has sold and installed the Vivax Assist system many times, told Business Insider on Tuesday that he himself is fairly confident the bike detained had a Vivax motor.

"I think it's almost sure that she used it," Daems said Tuesday. "It's not so heavy. The complete system is 2 kilos, and that includes the battery. It's not that big. And we can make batteries that fit in the tubes of the frame."

Amateur bike doping

Daems told Business Insider that two years ago his shop sold a Vivax system to a local amateur rider. Later, Daems said, he encountered "a little bit strange" situation when he suddenly started seeing that rider's name appear in race results online. (Daems declined to reveal the rider's identity.)

"We called him and told him, and, well, we dismounted his system. We gave back a part of his money," Daems said. "I think in the amateur circuit, for sure there will be some guys that will use [a motor], because there are no UCI."

Daems said that at his shop most Vivax installs are in road bike, though some are installed in "fitness bikes."

Like other observers, Daems pointed to Van den Driessche's remarkable performance during an earlier race this season, the Koppenbergcross, which features a tough climb that often plays a key role in the race's outcome.

"She stayed [seated] on the saddle, and for the Vivax system it's best that you stay on the saddle," Daems said. "Your rpm's from the saddle are from 70 to 90, and then you have the best effect from the motor. That's what she did on the Koppenberg.

"All the other girls were standing up on the pedals, and she was the only one sitting," he said.

Watch some of the Koppenbergcross action in question below:

Daems added that detecting whether a motor is in a bike frame is simple enough.

"You can download in the App Store an app for magnetic search," he said. "With a simple app you can find the motor, because the motor is [made] from steel and the frame is carbon. You can see the difference in the material."

Until the UCI announces its decision in the case of Van den Driessche, cycling observers will be left wondering about her concealed motor, while Italian manufacturer Wilier Triestina said it will sue Van den Driessche.

For Vivax, the message it wants to share with the world is clear.

"Not to use any doping — to do everything from your own power," Treichl said. "This motor is not made for competition. If I were in a competition, I would have to do it with my own power. If I am not able to do it, it's better to be a hobby biker."

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NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

Things appearing from thin air is something no longer reserved for magic shows. The Fontus is a water bottle prototype that uses condensation to absorb the moisture in the air and collect it in a convenient water bottle. It uses solar power to run the condensation chamber, and can fill itself in under an hour in humid climates.

Produced by Rob Ludacer

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The cycling federation of Qatar — a country that's been accused of human-rights abuses — announced Sunday that it had disinvited the world's No. 1 cycling team, Belgian-based Etixx-Quick-Step, because its riders take too long to change clothes after races, take too long to do interviews, and take too long to get to the podium ceremonies.

The news came on the eve of the five-day Tour of Qatar race, which attracts the world's top teams.

"I've decided not to send them an invitation despite their wish to participate," Qatar Cycling Federation President Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Thani told a press conference in Doha on Sunday, AFP reported.

"On several occasions the team has displayed disciplinary problems," he explained. "For example, they take too long to change and give interviews even though they are expected on live television, and they take too long to reach the podium."

The sheikh accused the team of "lacking respect."

VeloNews reported the sheikh said Etixx was disrespectful to a female employee at a past race:

"We sent them a special lady to hurry them up, and they talked to her not in a very nice way and waved her off like that," Al Thani said. "That was not good."

The organizer of the Tour of Qatar, the Amaury Sport Organisation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Nor did the Etixx team.

Etixx has dominated the Tour of Qatar, with Belgian strongman Tom Boonen winning four editions (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012) and Dutch star Niki Terpstra successful in 2014 and 2015.

The Belgian outfit won more races than any other team in 2015.

An American journalist at the race interviewed Al Thani in a video posted on YouTube (his comments about Etixx begin at 0:40):

Allegations of human-rights abuses

"Qatar does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking," according to the CIA World Factbook, though "it is making significant efforts to do so."

The CIA also notes:

The predominantly foreign workforce migrates to Qatar legally but often experiences situations of forced labor, including debt bondage, delayed or nonpayment of salaries, confiscation of passports, abuse, hazardous working conditions, and squalid living arrangements; foreign female domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to trafficking because of their isolation in private homes and lack of protection under Qatari labor laws; some women who migrate for work are also forced into prostitution.

Qatar dismissed as "groundless" in December a claim that as many as 7,000 people would die working on projects for the 2022 World Cup, AFP reported.

In January, Human Rights Watch said "Qatari labor reforms enacted in 2015 failed to provide meaningful protection to low-paid migrant workers and left them acutely vulnerable to trafficking and forced labor."

'Ethical bankruptcy'

Qatar is also hosting the UCI World Road Championships later this year.

Launched in 2002, the Tour of Qatar was the first major cycling event in the Middle East, VeloNews reported, paving the way for other events, such as the Tour of Oman, the Dubai Tour, and the Abu Dhabi Tour.

Last year, cycling's hour-record holder, Bradley Wiggins, said it's "horrible" racing in Qatar and no racer enjoys it.

Some observers have criticized races making a push into countries with poor human-rights records, such as Qatar.

Popular cycling blog Bike Snob NYC lashed out saying "cycling and ethical bankruptcy have always gone together."

Doha, the capital of Qatar, plans to host the World Cup in 2022, though there are serious ethical issues surrounding it. From Human Rights Watch:

Qatar has experienced a low level of domestic dissent compared to its neighbors, but since its successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it has become a focus of international criticism of the mistreatment of low-paid migrant workers. Despite this, Qatar has failed to enact meaningful reforms to its labor system, which continues to facilitate the trafficking and forced labor of workers. Qatar has enjoyed a reputation as a center for media freedom in the region, but a new cybercrime law poses a serious threat to freedom of expression.

SEE ALSO: 14 reasons the Qatar World Cup is going to be a disaster

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NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

Pro cycling was shocked with the recent news that a 19-year-old Belgian cyclist, Femke Van den Driessche, was caught during the cyclocross world championships with a bicycle that had a motor hidden in the frame.

It was the first official case of "mechanical doping," and the news quickly caught fire in the world of cycling before making it into the mainstream media.

Van den Driessche has denied she was knowingly in possession of a bike that had a motor, and her case has been handed to a disciplinary commission.

It's already quite the scandal, and it could become one of the biggest the sport has faced since Lance Armstrong was busted for using performance-enhancing drugs and stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles.

But whereas Armstrong cheated by blood doping, cycling's governing body described this newest form of cheating as "technological fraud," though many are referring to it as "mechanical doping" or "motorized doping."

Whatever it's called, using a motor in a bicycle during a race is cheating, and riders and teams that commit such fraud face not just disqualification but suspensions and huge fines. It's already looking like the story of the year, to many people's dismay.

Here's what we know about cycling's mechanical-doping scandal so far:

SEE ALSO: Yes, cycling actually is the new golf

What happened, and what have cycling officials said about it?

The International Cycling Union (known by its French abbreviation, UCI) said on Saturday, January 30, that it had found a "concealed motor" in the frame of a bicycle during the cyclocross world championships being held in Zolder, Belgium.

The next day it said that bike belonged to 19-year-old Belgian rider Femke Van den Driessche, the reigning under-23 European cyclocross champion.

Cookson tweeted some strong words for those engaged in tech fraud:

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Technological fraud is unacceptable. We want the minority who may consider cheating to know that, increasingly 1/2 pic.twitter.com/kxz3Phct7P

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What has Van den Driessche said?

"It wasn't my bike — it was that of a friend and was identical to mine,"a tearful Van den Driessche said, AFP reported.

According to Dutch news site Sport Wereld, a man named Nico Van Muylder, who claims to be a friend of Van den Driessche, said the bike is actually his. He hasn't said much else so far.

Van den Driessche has kept a low profile since appearing on TV.

What has the UCI said in the weeks since the scandal broke?

In the days that followed, the UCI said it had tested more than a hundred bikes at the world championships — and that it would be testing a lot more going forward:

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has taken the issue of technological fraud extremely seriously for many years. It has been clear for some time that the equipment exists to enable people determined to cheat to do so by installing devices hidden in bikes. That is why we’ve invested considerable time and financial resources in organising unannounced tests at races and have recently been trialing new methods of detection. We’ve also been using intelligence gathered from the industry and other information given to us. We tested over 100 bikes at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder and will continue to test large numbers of bikes at races throughout the season.

And sure enough, on Friday, February 12, the UCI announced it had tested another 90 bikes for motors, but this time at a road race in France.

Here's the full statement the UCI sent to Business Insider:

UCI statement on bike checks

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) confirms that it has carried out unannounced bike checks at La Méditerranéenne on Friday 12 February, 2016, and that no technological fraud was detected.

Tests concerned 90 bikes from six teams participating.

These bike checks used the same type of equipment which the UCI trialed at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Heusden-Zolder (Belgium) where a concealed engine was detected. This equipment enables those performing the tests to investigate large numbers of bikes, both frames and wheels, in a short period of time.

The UCI has invested considerable time and financial resources in this area and trialling new methods of detection is part of its commitment to ensuring its tests are as robust as possible. Intelligence has also been gained from active engagement with the industry and other information given to us which has enabled us to refine and improve our testing.

The UCI will continue to test significant numbers of bikes in unannounced tests in all disciplines throughout 2016 and beyond.

The 2016 professional cycling calendar is barely underway but controversy has already reared its ugly head.

The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), owner of the Tour de France, has reignited its historical battle with cycling’s governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), and threatens to plunge the sport into disarray once again.

ASO is upset over a relatively minor but widely agreed licensing reform that would allow a measure of greater economic stability for the teams. The privately owned firm has often acted against the interests of the greater sport, at times seeming to undermine the basis of its own business model— cutting off its nose to spite its face.

The core challenge for pro cycling is obvious. The Tour de France is the one “super-marquee” competition of the sport — the only event in the sport where teams and sponsors can really profit. Don’t participate in the Tour, and you’re not going to make any money in this sport; it’s that simple. And ASO intends to do everything it can to protect its unique asset, regardless of the implications for everyone else.

The Tour de France may be the key event in pro cycling, but it is also an anchor holding the sport back. So why not replace it? It is time to break the deadlock of the sport’s power structure and move it out from under ASO’s de-facto control. And move it toward a more sustainable economic system that expands the revenue potential and creates a model for equitable profit sharing.

There are ways the sport could sidestep the Tour de France. Indeed, if most of the teams and other stakeholders could unite and move away from the overwhelming focus on the Tour, this could potentially solve many of pro cycling’s economic and governance problems — and recast ASO as more of a partner in the sport’s continued evolution.

What more audacious proposal could possibly be made? At first glance, nothing could more quickly enrage cycling’s stakeholders and its millions of fans across the world. Yet it is exactly this kind of “outside the box” thinking that could lead to much-needed changes and new incentives for the sport.

Consider one scenario.

What if Italy’s national race, the Giro d’Italia, was moved to the first part of July — directly opposite the Tour? This would require only two big changes. First, the key pro teams would have to commit to race the Giro, rather than the Tour. Second, Giro owner RCS Sport would have to reschedule its race.

The Italian government might have to withstand the entreaties or threats that the French government might raise. But with these changes, the monopolistic control of ASO could be broken overnight.

Timing the Giro with Europe’s high vacation season would ensure greater roadside fan attendance, a higher continental viewership, and the massive tourism advantages historically claimed by the Tour. Italy is a beautiful country, too, and teams wouldn’t have to worry so much about racing through its snow-packed passes in May.

The higher profile would generate higher television revenues, enriching RCS. Sharing some of that revenue with the teams could cement the incentive to participate; RCS is one of the few race organizers to have shared TV revenues with teams in the past, and the promise of funds could be used to lock-in “early adopters.”

The key prerequisite is that all key stakeholders have to act in unison. A forceful leader would have to command this effort, and work in conjunction with the owners of the Giro, to commit the teams and all of the accompanying logistics to support the change.

But the key premise is that it could be done even if it was not unanimous. A Giro focused on reform and contested by most of the top WorldTour teams would be more entertaining — and economically valuable — than a Tour de France contested among a few French and second-tier regional teams.

ASO would no doubt retaliate and possibly blackball the renegade teams from its other events, but this isn’t insurmountable. Sponsorship interests drive the sport, and so an alternative calendar schedule or league arrangement would also have to be organized.

Additionally, elevating the Giro to the main event could accelerate change by providing openings for several other major races to compete on the global stage, adding more pressure for ASO to change its model.

This plan may sound improbable, but cycling needs to try something new, even if it enrages purists and unravels more than a hundred years of tradition. It is exactly the kind of creative disruption that has reinvigorated many other industries; it could be just the nudge cycling needs to finally address its core problems.

It is commonly lamented around cycling that “nothing will ever change so long as the ASO is in charge.” But pro cycling is capable of moving beyond ASO’s virtual monopoly. As former Giro director Michele Acquarone — still one of the more innovative thinkers the sport has seen — puts it, “We need to mix some ‘outside the box’ provocations with a diplomatic approach.”

Breaking away from the Tour de France could force ASO to become a more positive and collaborative partner with the sport's stakeholders. This would free up cycling to adopt a whole range of reforms, encourage more fan participation, expose new markets, and diversify the revenue streams to better promote the growth and vitality of the whole sport.

This could all happen if cycling could agree that its best friend might just be its worst enemy.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

A new season of road cycling is upon us! And with it come so many fresh chances for the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Whet your appetite with our favorite finishes in bike racing.

SEE ALSO: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The Lance Armstrong team that dominated the Tour de France

No. 12: 1984 Summer Olympics

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In the first-ever women's Olympic cycling event, and after nearly 50 miles of racing near Los Angeles, American Connie Carpenter out-sprinted compatriot Rebecca Twigg to the line in a photo finish.

No. 11: Stage 15, 2014 Tour de France

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Ever had a crummy day at work? Try spending 135 miles in a two-man breakaway, and then come up 80 feet short of sweet victory.

No. 10: 1994 Tour of Flanders

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In Belgium's biggest race, Italy's best rider, Gianni Bugno, just gets it. (Watch from 3:30.)

American Evelyn Stevens set a new world hour record in cycling on Saturday.

She rode a distance of 47.980 kilometers (29.81 miles) in one hour at the 7-11 Velodrome in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

She beat the previous record of 46.882 kilometers (29.13 miles) set January 22 by Australian Bridie O'Donnell in Adelaide, Australia.

"It couldn't have been a more perfect day," Stevens said after her ride. "Awesome."

Stevens, a California native, previously worked in investment banking and finance. She now rides for the Dutch Boels Dolmans Cycling Team.

Stevens now holds what's officially known as the Women's UCI Hour Record.

Former Tour de France and Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins holds the Men's UCI Hour Record.

The Englishman rode 54.526 kilometers (33.88 miles) at the Lee Valley VeloPark track in London on June 7, 2015.

'One in 10 million talent'

Stevens' first coach, Matthew Koschara, told Business Insider in 2014 he was not surprised by her success.

He said she is a "one in 10 million" talent.

"She has the right appetite, physiologically and psychologically,"Koschara said. "She's old school, she's hard core — she's a fighter."

He pointed to Stevens' remarkable power-to-weight ratio, and although he would not reveal stats from the time he coached Stevens, he said her three- and 10-minute power numbers, measured in watts, were "huge."

At 5-6 and 120 pounds, she's compact and very powerful.

She was beaming after setting the new world record:

"It's not common that you get the chance to set a new World Record ... I just want to celebrate with everyone now!"Stevens said, according to the International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport's governing body.

For a time, the related hashtag #UCIHourRecord trended worldwide on Twitter, race announcers said.

"I would like to congratulate 'Evie' on her achievement,"UCI President Brian Cookson added. "Bridie O'Donnell's record stood for five weeks and we have already seen two attempts this year despite only being in February.

The attempt

Stevens was all smiles when she entered the velodrome.

She looked at ease, and confident.

Her coach, Neal Henderson, is an expert when it comes to the hour record.

He and Stevens started training seriously in November.

Her trained a former world hour-record holder, Rohan Dennis of Australia.

Before the event started, she bowed her head for the national anthem.

Here was Stevens awaiting the start:

This is Stevens on the very first lap. After getting up to speed, she got set into her aero tuck.

It would be a very long and painful hour of effort.

This was the bike — made by California-based Specialized— that Stevens set the record on:

The velodrome is open air half the year and covered with a removable cover the rest.

Built in 1983, it features a 333.3-meter (1,093.5-foot) banked track for cycling on a cement surface. It's at about 6,000 feet above sea level and is climate-controlled.

All of which made for just about ideal conditions for Stevens.

This GIF below shows GoPro footage previously taken on the track.

Stevens is said to have used the footage as part of her training to help her visualize her successful effort.

It all paid off — she smashed the previous record by over one kilometer:

Her coach was thrilled:

She broke the record handily, having ridden at nearly 30 mph for one hour.

From Wall Street to the open road

After graduating from Dartmouth in 2005, Stevens worked as an analyst for Lehman Brothers before taking a job as an associate at investment fund Gleacher Mezzanine (known today as Arrowhead).

Four hours' sleep a night. Seven-day workweeks. Diet Cokes around the clock. This was Stevens' life on Wall Street.

Years on, and far from Wall Street, Stevens now ranks among the world's best cyclists.

Stevens said she approaches cycling as she did investment banking: with tenacity. After turning pro, she dedicated herself completely — she was "hyper-focused"— just as when she'd started her business career.

"With investment banking and finance, it's not a world you gradually go into it," she said. "It's not like I started and they told me, 'Take your time, get comfortable, leave at 5 p.m.' You're on deals, you're operating on a high level quickly.

"If you want to get to that high level, you have to go after it," she said. "Investment banking is like pro cycling: It's not a career you have for 30 years. You realize, 'I'm going for it.' For my career in cycling, every day it's like, 'What do I need to do better? What do I need to train?' You can’t become complacent."

At 32, she's in the prime of her career.

Even before setting the hour record on Saturday, she had major victories crowding her palmarès, or race résumé.

It all started in late 2007. While on vacation in San Francisco, Stevens' sister talked her into doing a local cyclocross race, which at first seemed like a crazy idea.

She'd played tennis in college, went to the gym, and did some running. But rarely did she ride a bike, let alone race one.

And yet there, in Golden Gate Park, at age 25, she raced for the first time, on a borrowed bike.

She crashed and got banged up, but she finished and was immediately hooked — "in love" even.

"I was like, 'This is awesome — this is for me,'" she told Business Insider in 2014 about that first race.

She is targeting the Olympics in Rio this summer.

"Cycling is a very finite sport, kind of like the world of finance, but magnified," she previously told Business Insider. "There's highs, there's lows, and you see it so instantaneously — the crashes, the wins.

"I've had some big wins, but I’m not at the top level yet. So it's like, 'What do I need to do to become top level?' I think it's the same in finance. For those moving up that ladder, they're constantly looking and thinking, 'How do you do it differently? How do you do it better?' It's a constantly moving process."

You can watch highlights of Stevens' record-breaking ride here.

SEE ALSO: The 12 best nail-biting finishes in cycling, ranked

SEE ALSO: This 'One In 10 Million' American Talent Quit Her Job On Wall Street And Quickly Became One Of The World's Best Bike Racers

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

The driver of a medical motorcycle struck a cyclist from behind and sent him crashing to the ground hard in a bike race in Belgium on Sunday.

The rider, Belgian Stig Broeckx, 25, was taken to the hospital.

He suffered a fractured collarbone, a fractured rib, and a bruised hand, his team said in an update Monday.

The motorbike driver, part of the official race support, did not stop.

Broeckx was left sitting upright on the ground and in shock.

Broeckx had been riding on the front of the peloton before drifting over toward the right side of the road.

The motorbike driver, who could be seen coming up behind Broeckx, failed to stop or to move around the cyclist.

Broeckx rides for the Belgian Lotto-Soudal team and was racing in the Kurne-Brussels-Kurne semi-classic, one of the opening races of Belgium's famed cobbled-classic season.

Here's the scary moment the driver hit Broeckx:

UPDATE (Monday, February 29, 1:48 p.m.): Broeckx's team issued the following statement, saying Broeckx underwent surgery and will miss the spring races (emphasis added):

Stig Broeckx crashed hard yesterday at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne after he was hit by a motor at about 30 kilometres from the finish. The Lotto Soudal rider has a fractured collarbone, a fractured rib and a bruised hand. Yesterday evening Broeckx underwent surgery in Deinze. This afternoon he could already go home. The rider will miss out on the spring races.

During the chase on the front group Lotto Soudal rider Stig Broeckx moved to the right of the road after pulling at the front to take a look at the riders in the group, when he got hit by a motor rider that was passing by the group of riders. Lotto Soudal regrets the collision and the speed of the motor while passing by the group of riders. The team emphasizes that the road was wide enough and wonders if the motor rider should have been on that place at that time.

The team loses an important rider who was part of the Classics core and who did a great job on Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday evening Lotto Soudal filed a complaint. The team and rider await the further investigation.

Lotto Soudal hopes that after the succession of events the past few months and because of what happened yesterday during Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the theme ‘safety’ won’t only be further discussed between organisations, teams and their interest groups, federations and the international cycling union, but that soon also concrete measures will be taken to increase the safety of the riders.

The race organizer apologized, saying it would try harder to ensure that there were safer racing conditions in future races, Nieuwsblad reported, but refrained from making any further comments about the circumstances that led to the accident.

Here's Broeckx racing in 2014:

Fellow pro cyclist Manuel Quinziato tweeted that riders should not be passed at high speed:

UPDATE (Monday, February 29, 11:44 a.m.): The general manager of one of the sport's biggest teams, BMC Racing, wrote an open letter to the International Cycling Union (UCI) calling for improved safety for riders:

On September 1, 2015, less than one year ago, I wrote a similar letter after an alarming number of crashes involving vehicles had taken place in the peloton since the beginning of the 2015 season. Despite my reaching out for help at that time, the problem became even more prominent as the season went on and we watched in disbelief. Now here I am again asking the powers to be to take notice.

This weekend we saw two serious incidents take place that involved vehicles on the race course taking down riders on live television at La Drôme Classic in France and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne in Belgium. Incredible! The riders deserve far more respect than what they are receiving from those who are responsible for protecting their safety. We all understand that there exists an element of danger in the sport of cycling from a number of places and conditions but no rider expects to be run down from behind by an over-enthusiastic pilot on a closed race course. Disgraceful!

This has got to stop before the headlines in the future are of a more disturbing nature than what we have seen in 2015 and now again in 2016.

To the UCI, I am turning to you for answers and solutions.

Respectfully,

Jim Ochowicz

President/General Manager, BMC Racing Team

Sunday's crash was wthe latest in a number of dramatic crashes involving riders and cars and motorcycles.

Last year, a motorist driving an official race-support vehicle struck a cyclist in the Tour of Flanders, one of Belgium's largest annual sporting events:

In the 2011 Tour de France, a French television car crashed into riders, sending one of them flying into barbed wire:

At the 2015 Tour of Spain, cycling star Peter Sagan was struck by the driver of a race motorbike. Sagan finished the stage but then quit the three-week race.

You can watch a little more of Broeckx's crash below:

Via Sporza.be >>

SEE ALSO: A former Wall Street analyst just set a new world hour record in cycling

DON'T MISS: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The Lance Armstrong team that dominated the Tour de France

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

Disgraced sports icon Lance Armstrong has blasted the US Anti-Doping Agency, calling it "one of the most ineffective and inefficient organizations in the world" and claiming its CEO, Travis Tygart, went after him only because he and USADA needed a case and a story.

Armstrong was talking to students in a wide-ranging discussion at the University of Colorado Boulder on Tuesday, Daily Camera reported. The fallen cycling star had been invited to speak in a class taught by Professor Roger Pielke Jr. called Introduction to Sports Governance.

Pielke told Business Insider by phone on Tuesday that in his class, which has about 90 students, everyone is involved in discussions about "the thorny, difficult issues in sports, like doping and FIFA and NCAA."

Tygart was the guest speaker the week before Armstrong.

"We wanted the students to hear from USADA and one of the most famous athletes in the world who got caught doping," Pielke said.

When addressing the class, Armstrong spoke at length about the supposed failures of the antidoping agency that took him down.

"I have a lot of thoughts about USADA," Armstrong said. "I think the organization is absolutely necessary.

"I think they are probably one of the most ineffective and inefficient organizations in the world for the amount of money — and I'm not criticizing. It just is what it is — I'm not criticizing Travis or the organization.

"But if you consider a budget of $10 or $15 or $20 million a year, and then you lay that out over the testing results, which come back at ... 0.2% ... 0.7% come back as positive, we know that is not a realistic number. I don't know what the number is, whether it's 10 or 20 or 50, I don't know. But that tells you that that system is broken, too.

"It's probably the reason that Travis and USADA needed something — they needed a case, they needed a story. And again, I was that story, I was that case, it is what it is ... but they needed something to show that they were effective. And they did, and it worked.

"And now the world views him and them and the organization and all of their peers, and any other antidoping agency, as truly effective, when they're really not."

He went on to say, referring to USADA again: "If you have an organization that's struggling for credibility — and believe me, I was the complete dumb-ass who made it totally easy for them to do this, right? So this is my fault. I did what I did. Our culture and our era did what we did, but I took it so much farther. And that's really the lesson."

A representative at USADA told Business Insider on Tuesday that it would not comment on Armstrong's latest criticisms.

Armstrong in academia

Pielke said he gave credit to both Tygart and Armstrong for taking all his students' questions, including some "hard" ones from students who "are not shy." He said he hoped the students learned that when it comes to doping in sports "there are no simple, easy answers."

Pielke added that during their recent visits both Tygart and Armstrong each expressed that they would like to appear together at some point in the future, if possible. The two men each knew the other would be appearing in the class on the separate dates listed in the course syllabus, Pielke said.

Armstrong himself does not hold a college degree. Tufts University in Massachusetts, which had bestowed on Armstrong an honorary degree in 2006, rescinded that in 2012. He did attend Plano East High School, in Texas, where he struggled and saw life as "unfair," according to "Cycle of Lies" author Juliet Macur. The school wouldn't let him graduate because he had too many absences — days he took off to do triathlons and train for bike racing — so his mother made him switch schools, Macur writes, and enrolled him in a nontraditional private school, one that didn't have a problem with his poor attendance, and it eventually graduated him.

'Wicked problems'

"One of the things I guess I want the students to appreciate is this idea of what are called 'wicked problems' — they don't have any solutions. We can do better or worse. And doping is certainly a 'wicked problem,'" Pielke told Business Insider.

"They got to be up close and personal with really two of the protagonists in the biggest doping scandal in history," he said. "For the students I think it was a pretty special experience."

When asked if he would be putting anything on the course's final exam about Armstrong or Tygart, Pielke told Business Insider that a good short-answer question would ask the students to articulate the difference of opinion between Tygart and Armstrong based on their visits.

Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven times, from 1999 to 2005. But USADA, led by Tygart, stripped the brash Texan of all his titles in 2012.

USADA found the Armstrong-led US Postal Service team had run "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

After years of denial, cover-ups, and ruthlessly attacking and intimidating his many critics, Armstrong finally confessed to doping during all his Tour victories on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2013.

Many argue there is a lack of contrition in Armstrong, as raised in a BBC interview in 2015.

Armstrong is still fighting a $100 million whistleblower lawsuit brought by former friend and teammate Floyd Landis and later joined by the US government. Armstrong has said he likes his defense team's chances in the case.

He still owns multimillion-dollar properties in Aspen, Colorado, and Austin, Texas. Last year in Aspen, Armstrong crashed his SUV into two parked cars, fled the scene, and tried to make his girlfriend take the blame.

Armstrong still claims he is a seven-time Tour champion. He did not return an email request from Business Insider for a comment or an interview.

Watch two videos from the class discussion with Armstrong below, via Daily Camera:

Read more at Daily Camera >>

SEE ALSO: Inside the war over the Tour de France, and how it may change pro cycling forever

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Officials discovered a hidden motor inside the frame of a Belgian cyclist’s bike

His name is Storm Sondors, and he's made a fat-tire electric bicycle that sells for $499.

Sondors launched the bike in February 2015 after successful campaigns on crowdfunding sites Kickstarter and Indiegogo. He raised a combined $12 million, and still holds the record for the second-most-funded project on Indiegogo.

As for fat-tire bikes, they've become popular, and they're great off-road, especially in snow and sand — and look badass. With the Sondors, fat tires meet e-bike at a surprisingly low price.

Before we go any further, a note on the price: While the bike launched at $499, shipping will cost another $200. The price will also rise in future campaigns. But even then, the price of his bike seems out of place — if not impossible — in a market crowded with models that can cost 10 times what Sondors is charging.

By comparison, Specialized, a maker of popular road and mountain bikes, produces electric models that will set you back between $3,000 and $7,000. There's Pedego, which has been producing pretty e-bikes since 2009. Their entry-level models will cost about three grand.

SEE ALSO: 'Mechanical doping' is real — here's what we know so far

DON'T MISS: 35-year-old American who thinks modern life is too stressful works 6 months a year, then lives on $10 a day adventuring around the world on a bicycle

A good deal of controversy surrounded the project, fueled in large part by a cease-and-desist order from another manufacturer that had already produced an e-bike called the "Storm" (Sondors' original name for his product) as well as a lawsuit from Sondors' own PR agency for breach of contract.

Internet crowdfunding brings with it a great number of prying eyes, and when these suits were posted online a debate erupted over whether people would ever get their bikes.

There have certainly been lengthy delays; there are more than a few stories about owners receiving their bikes almost a year after contributing to the campaign. But let's not forget: The internet liked Sondors' idea so much it gave him 12 million bucks. In one year, Sondors has turned that into a production reality — and the man was happy to report that all ordered bikes from the original campaign have now been delivered.

Sondors, an avid surfer, spent much of his career making children's toys, including, he told me, designing toys for McDonald's Happy Meals. He also said he recently purchased his first smartphone.

"I like something, and when I can't afford it, I try to make it myself," Sondors said, "and being into mass market [production] I started to ask myself, 'Could this be done better?'"

By "better" Sondors means cheaper. He claims his two decades in the toy industry helped him figure out how to produce the bike while avoiding major costs. He has evaded spending much on marketing, benefiting from the free press surrounding his record-smashing crowdsourcing campaigns and word of mouth.

The giant box showed up in our office in early February, and assembly was a simple affair. Anyone who's ever ridden a bicycle and would feel comfortable assembling a piece of IKEA furniture would be more than OK tackling this task.

There are directions online, in the form of official YouTube videos. I'd have preferred paper instructions, though, because handling the bike while watching and pausing videos is a pain.

The packaging could have been better, too: Damage during shipping included a bent front dropout, and the front brake took a hit. I was able to fix it myself, but some would probably have wanted to consult a bike shop.

In the boutique indoor cycling scene, you're either Team SoulCycle or Team Flywheel.

Though Flywheel's following is a little quieter and little less diehard than SoulCycle's cultish following, it's rapidly catching up to its competitor.

A recent major marketing and branding overhaul has filled in any gaps Flywheel had, and some new improvements and expansion plans make it an even stronger competitor in the silent indoor cycling wars.

Chief Marketing Officer Tamara Odinec told Business Insider that this overhaul was about catching the brand's looks up to the product that it offers.

"We wanted to catch our brand up with who we are today and who we appeal to with our ridership, so it's important for us to think how we're showing up to the world," Odinec said to Business Insider. "And that meant revamping all aspects of our experience to ensure that what [riding] prospects see when they come to visit our site is indicative of what they find when they come to the stadiums and studios."

Further, Flywheel has given its website a major boost. Here's what the home page looks like now.

The heart of a cycling class, though, is the instructor. SoulCycle instructors are known for their personalities, and it appears Flywheel wants to remind users that their instructors — though more coach-like than their SoulCycle counterparts — are a crucial part of each class's equation.

To highlight instructor's personalities, Flywheel has improved instructor bio pages, which include more digestible bios, confessions of guilty pleasures, class descriptions, and their current music.

Odinec swears these changes weren't inspired by SoulCycle; they are "completely independent of anything our competitors are doing."

However, the resemblance to SoulCycle's instructor bio pages is undeniable, and SoulCycle is Flywheel's biggest competitor — it filed to go public in July. (Flywheel is private and does not disclose financials.)

It proves that Flywheel has caught up aesthetically, at the very least, to where it was lagging behind in the industry. 

But what has long separated Flywheel from SoulCycle and its "pack" with its "soulful" jargon is its technology. A "Torq Board" clues people into how hard they're actually working, by indicating resistance, cadence, and overall power output.

As a part of this brand overhaul, Flywheel has improved the Torq Boards by making them more personal; the Torq Board greets riders by name when they arrive at their bikes. Flywheel has also updated each instructor's dashboards, so that every instructor knows who is a new rider and how they're progressing. The company has also added in a feature in which the app suggests classes to riders based on their past classes. (The personalized details also serve as a stark contrast to SoulCycle's emphasis on "riding with the pack.")

The importance of improved technology seems more crucial than ever, especially given the rise of cycling company Peloton. Peloton streams live classes to stationery bikes in users' homes. It swept up $75 million in funding in December.

Perhaps the most interesting new addition is a feature which autobooks classes. SoulCycle is known for its infamous booking policy — classes notoriously open for the week on Mondays at 12 p.m. Similarly, Flywheel's classes open for registration the Sunday night before at 5 p.m. Flywheel has now implemented an autobook procedure for riders who want a regular seat in a particular class, mitigating any concerns that they'll have to sign up at 5 p.m. on the dot.

The company is in rapid expansion mode, too. The company recently launched its thirty-sixth studio, and CEO Ed Kinnaly told Business Insider this summer that by the end of 2016, Flywheel will open about 20 more. By 2017, Flywheel is looking to expand to Europe and Asia. Kinnaly said he expected to have 150-175 studios across the continental US and 75 international studios within five years.

And though Flywheel won't openly say it, it is the anti-SoulCycle. SoulCycle tells inexperienced riders to stay away from the front; in FlyWheel's class stadium seating, everyone can see the instructor, and the inclusive ethos is central to the company's success.

"We have created a very kind of supportive and encouraging community of people where it’s not about who’s prettier or who has more jewelry or who has the better workout outfit," founder Ruth Zukerman said to Business Insider this past summer.

And Flywheel aims to emphasize its inclusivity with its new brand overhaul.

"The update with our brand identity is really our desire to focus on what our underlying values and equities are," Odinec said, describing the company as "inclusive,""authentic," and "empowering." 

SEE ALSO: SoulCycle just took a huge step away from its elite reputatio

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Cyclists get chased by dogs quite often. Giant sprinting birds, not so much.

Oleksiy Mishchenko and his cycling pals were recently chased by a large ostrich, according to a video he posted on YouTube. They were riding in South Africa along a quiet road by the ocean.

"Suddenly," Mishchenko wrote, "I spotted a white ostrich on my left, then this beast jumped on the road from the right and started chasing my friends!"

"Luckily the creature decided to leave us alone ... My guess he wanted to show off in front of his girlfriend," he said.

Reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome has had his own run-ins with animals in his native Africa, and he tweeted the chase video (below):

Diehard cyclists will remember Kevin Costner and David Marshall Grant being chased by a vicious dog in "American Flyers":

There have been documented cases of very angry magpies attacking cyclists:

The ostrich is said to be the fastest bird on land.

It can reach speeds of 45 mph and easily maintain 30 mph.

[h/t VeloNews]

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump, who once sponsored the biggest bike race in America, took a shot at John Kerry for cycling

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American Jonathan Vaughters is the manager of the US-based Cannondale Pro Cycling Team, which competes in the world's biggest bicycle races, including the Tour de France. This is an op-ed he wrote for Business Insider.

Another bike race, another problem.

The recent spate of terrifying accidents in professional cycling, combined with the cancellation of Wednesday’s stage in Paris-Nice, has incited fans, athletes, and coaches to carefully consider how pro cycling is conducted and how it could be improved.

The interests at stake are so varied that consensus on how to move forward is difficult, if not impossible.

Why?

Unlike in most professional sports, where the business interests of the leagues are aligned or, at the very least, legally defined, in cycling most interests work against one another, creating dangerous situations that benefit some and sometimes cost others.

As one of my early bosses told me before a race — a race that riders were considering boycotting because of ice patches all over the roads — “Don't get caught up in this bullshit of a rider strike. The race will be fast today, no matter what the conditions, because there's always someone wanting to take advantage of the situation.”

The race was unbelievably fast, and many nasty accidents occurred. Any solidarity among the riders prerace was flimsy, and disappeared once the gun went off. We all felt the pressure to do our jobs that day and provide a good race for sponsors and fans. Our livelihood depended on it. We did so at the cost of many broken bones, concussions, and lost skin.

So why is it that, as my generation of riders grows older and into management and governance, we can't seem to find a way keep athletes out of those situations — the same ones we detested — in the first place?

Varied interests.

For example, one of the largest and most recent controversies in pro cycling is the cyclists being run over by television motorcycles, support vehicles, and referee-carrying vehicles. At first glance, it seems absurd that cyclists would be getting put in danger by motor vehicles that are in the middle of a pack of cyclists. However, when we examine why those vehicles are there to begin with, it becomes less clear.

Without television providing close-up and intimate filming, cycling loses its audience. Without mobile referees in vehicles watching the conduct of the riders, cycling loses adherence to regulations and fairness. Without support vehicles, riders have no coaching, no possibility to fix flat tires, and no mobile water and fuel station.

Without the police on motorcycles constantly enveloping the peloton, the riders receive no protection from traffic. The hundreds of dangerous motor vehicles surrounding a bike race all serve a purpose. Unfortunately, we all now know that motor vehicles crammed into extremely close quarters with riders will eventually produce an accident. No matter who is driving.

Then perhaps the answer is to reduce the number of vehicles? So whose interest do we diminish? If the TV motorcycles and media cars are removed, then the race will fade to obscurity and no longer be able to meet costs of production. If the judges are removed, the race will devolve into a “Mad Max” version of cycling. If the team cars are removed, the riders will have no support for their efforts. The solutions aren't clear.

Another example came in Wednesday’s stage of Paris-Nice, a weeklong stage race in France. The stage was canceled, reluctantly, after snow clogged the roads and turned some into skating rinks. The images coming through would make it seem crazy that the race even started in the first place.

But canceling a race isn't easy. First, you have the towns that paid money for the race to start or finish in them. Then you have a television station that has paid money to broadcast the race at a certain time on a certain day. You have roads that have been closed by local governments to let the race pass.

All these factors lead to a bevy of conflicts of interest. While the chief judge of the race should be looking at the rules in place for extreme weather, instead he has an upset race organizer breathing down his neck making sure he understands the money that will be lost if the race doesn't go ahead.

Who suffers from these commercially driven conflicts? The teams and the riders. They aren't part of the decision-making; they aren't part of the benefits or liabilities associated with the business of running a race. They are simply there to do as they are told.

Solutions to these issues? Simple. Align the business interests so everyone decides what is best together, in advance, and live by those decisions. Maybe racing in the snow makes sense if everyone has brought snow tires and heavy parkas to begin with? Maybe the business benefits outweigh the negatives if done in a safe way? Maybe fewer cars and less officiating and media makes sense? Maybe not?

Risks and rewards must be chosen by all parties. But since the teams and riders aren't part of the business of producing a race — many race organizers view riders and teams as nuisances, frankly — interests aren’t shared. Riders have to rely on decision-making from people who are highly invested in the business of producing a race. And that decision-making will reflect what is best for the race organizer. Not the teams and athletes.

How does aligning business interests look? Just like any major-league sport: The teams and the events are one and the same. The NFL, and all its franchise teams, run the Super Bowl, benefit from the Super Bowl, and also carry the risks and liabilities of the Super Bowl. There is no "Super Bowl organizer" running a completely separate business from the teams competing in the Super Bowl and making decisions that the teams know nothing about.

No, it's one business. And that business figures out compromises that make the best path forward for all the stakeholders in the business (the NFL). And those decisions have to be lived with by all parties, as all parties involved are stakeholders.

Maybe this type of decision-making would make races less safe? Maybe more safe? Maybe more entertaining? Maybe less? We don't know.

But what we do know is that having teams and riders pulling one way and race organizers pulling another leaves both parties weaker. It's time for cycling to grow up and take its place among top professional sports. And that happens only with everyone pulling in the same direction.

SEE ALSO: A former Wall Street analyst set a new world hour record in cycling

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