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:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/693728983452651520
Technological fraud is unacceptable. We want the minority who may consider cheating to know that, increasingly 1/2 pic.twitter.com/kxz3Phct7P
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.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider