Batteries Power New Talk of Cheating in Cycling

The battery-powered Gruber Assist motor can be built into the frame of a bicycle and remotely activated to give a tiring rider a boost of power.

By IAN AUSTEN
NYT

Cycling’s long history with doping means that any dramatic victory is as likely to create suspicion as admiration. But the whispers surrounding Fabian Cancellara’s decisive wins in two of this spring’s most important races have a novel twist: they accuse him of using a tiny electric motor to help power his legs.

Although no one offered proof, and Cancellara dismissed the allegations as “stupid,” online speculation reached such a point that on Wednesday it crashed the Web servers of an Austrian company that makes an invisible motor system for bicycles. And the International Cycling Union, while carefully noting that it is not investigating any specific rider or team, is reviewing the need for a new bicycle inspection system to detect motorized cheating.

Several weeks have passed since Cancellara, an Olympic champion from Switzerland, won the Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. The suspicions about his winning methods were outlined in a report shown last week by RAI, the Italian broadcaster, that did not mention his name.

In the report, Davide Cassani, a cycling commentator for the network and former professional rider, displayed a racing bicycle that looked normal. When he pressed a button hidden under the rubber hood of a brake lever, the pedals began turning, powered by a motor and batteries tucked into its frame.

(More here.)