A combination of FLIR and homologation could go a long way to solve this problem. FLIR seems like an excellent start.
Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
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Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#12If these bikers lost these races, and i am left to assume they did since the scandal hasn't boiled over yet, i think they can safely pack it in. Losing a race you cheated in is about as low as i can imagine this getting.
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#13Suddenly, steroids don't seem so bad.
I don't know about that. One is ruining your body to win and the other is just cheating.
In related news Hebrew University researchers unveil a sarcasm detector [2010]
http://m.jpost.com/Health-and-Sci-Tech/Internet-And-Technolo...
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#14the thing with mechanical doping is that if you aren't caught red-handed, you are free, with doping some races/competitions will freeze your samples and they can be tested years later to find out if you were using something that wasn't testable yet, but with mechanical doping, once you're done the race you're safe.
And over a course of a grand tour stage, even if the boost is only 25W, it can easily make the difference between winning and being maybe in the top 10, ask any cyclist how much a 25W higher FTP would be worth in a mountain stage...
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#15I'm not sure why the focus is on the motors. They can be tiny and well hidden, but what about the batteries ? They are bound to be hidden in the hollow tubing. Why don't they just require a small hole where they can poke in a stick to verify the tubes are hollow ? A simple weight check would also suffice. The bike has a known legal weight, oh, suddenly its 3 kilos heavier...
> The bike has a known legal weight, oh, suddenly its 3 kilos heavier...
Part of the issue is that bikes have a minimum weight, but with modern materials it's quite easy to go below that minimum. So they can cover the added weight of the motor and batteries by cutting elsewhere.
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#16the thing with mechanical doping is that if you aren't caught red-handed, you are free, with doping some races/competitions will freeze your samples and they can be tested years later to find out if you were using something that wasn't testable yet, but with mechanical doping, once you're done the race you're safe. And over a course of a grand tour stage, even if the boost is only 25W, it can easily make the differen…
How long do they typically use a bike?
For big races, it might not be entirely absurd to cut up the frame after the race, just to be sure.
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#17What makes cycling so particularly attractive to cheating? Or is cheating in cycling just getting more publicity than in other sports?
It's not just cycling. Boxing, baseball, tennis they are all cheating, theres million dollar incentives for these athletes too
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#18the thing with mechanical doping is that if you aren't caught red-handed, you are free, with doping some races/competitions will freeze your samples and they can be tested years later to find out if you were using something that wasn't testable yet, but with mechanical doping, once you're done the race you're safe. And over a course of a grand tour stage, even if the boost is only 25W, it can easily make the differen…
Seems trivial to detect now though. It's no problem to just tear down the bikes of the first X finishers to look for mechanical aids. Detecting doping reliably is much trickier.
edit: I think most high level bikes use carbon fibre frames? You could probably just use x-ray or ultrasound imaging to look for anything suspicious in the frame.
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#19What makes cycling so particularly attractive to cheating? Or is cheating in cycling just getting more publicity than in other sports?
I think it's the nature of the cheating her that is getting a lot of attention. From TFA "Despite more suspicious evidence occasionally floating to the surface, moto-doping seemed like a fairly improbable boogeyman, something that was too outrageous and silly for anyone to actually try. "
Re: Thermal camera footage allegedly shows pro cyclists using motors
#20the thing with mechanical doping is that if you aren't caught red-handed, you are free, with doping some races/competitions will freeze your samples and they can be tested years later to find out if you were using something that wasn't testable yet, but with mechanical doping, once you're done the race you're safe. And over a course of a grand tour stage, even if the boost is only 25W, it can easily make the differen…
How long do they typically use a bike? For big races, it might not be entirely absurd to cut up the frame after the race, just to be sure.
From the video linked, it sounds like they can (legally) switch bikes during the race, so they could just switch back to a legit bike close to the finish.