51–60 of 354 posts
There was a lot of suspicion about Cancellara that was never really investigated. A couple of people have been caught... They brought out x-ray machines, and x-rayed bikes, but that's sort of fell by the wayside over the pandemic. I think the truth is, professional cycling, doesn't want to confront another scandal. So they just sort of turn a blind eye into it.
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Yeah, it's so common that literally nobody in high-level road cycling has ever been found doing it. "Motor doping" is the chupacabra: universally feared, never seen. The math doesn't even begin to pass the smell test, with regards to how much energy you'd get out of some tiny battery vs. the amount you'd spend dragging the dead battery around France all day.
how about 0.5% performance increase on climbs? downhill, the more weight you have the better i guess.
Also the gains from your device are probably erased if Pogi forgets to poop before starting the stage.
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The difference between the top 0.0000001% of humanity and second place is very, very small. Fractions of a watt. Adding just 10W would be game changing, and modern lipos and brushless motors add far, far more power than their weight penalty subtracts.
10W for a sustained time perhaps but these are looong climbs. Col de la Loze is 26.4km with an average gradient of 6.5%.
(The motor, of course, would probably weigh more - but it remains the case that you can build a bike that weighs under the minimum.)
Motor doping has been around for ages. Nothing new.
Yeah, it's so common that literally nobody in high-level road cycling has ever been found doing it. "Motor doping" is the chupacabra: universally feared, never seen. The math doesn't even begin to pass the smell test, with regards to how much energy you'd get out of some tiny battery vs. the amount you'd spend dragging the dead battery around France all day.
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how about 0.5% performance increase on climbs? downhill, the more weight you have the better i guess.
Shall we do the math on this? Pogi's Zone 2 power is apparently around 320W. That puts his FTP around 500. Assume he's doing a climb at tempo, say 6W/kg based on system weight. The power density to beat for your mechanical doping device is 166g/W. But keep in mind, that's the power it has to do in order to just break even and not slow him down. Also the gains from your device are probably erased if Pogi forgets to po…
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I replied directly to OP, but applies here as well. Cycling is far more specialized than other sports so the pay off for doping is greater.
Why is pay off greater in cycling than other sports? Salary of the top riders? Compared to say NBA players, pro cyclist make relatively little. Tadej Pogacar (best and top paid cyclist) makes about $8M (euros) in salary per year. Steph Curry (highest paid) NBA player makes $55M (dollars) in salary per year.
I am definitely a layperson when it comes to organized sports, but from my POV it seems like competitive cycling attracts WAY more fraud/cheating/doping/etc. than many other kinds of sports. At least I have heard about it a lot more. I wonder why that is.
I wonder if this contributes. Imagine you're a sport person, your job depends kn your performance, you are at the mercy of your team, and it's not even like you can win. So why not help yourself to some pills.
But then, as siblings say, I don't even know if cycling is worse than other sports.
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10W for a sustained time perhaps but these are looong climbs. Col de la Loze is 26.4km with an average gradient of 6.5%.
A 60Wh battery weighs about 300g. That stage is about 5 hours. 300g seems a pretty small price to pay for a 10W boost, especially if you achieve it by making the bike be under the limit and then adding motor+battery (switchable with a dummy weight, of course) to bring it to spec. (The motor, of course, would probably weigh more - but it remains the case that you can build a bike that weighs under the minimum.)