Uses the scooter? 1 million. fine, 6 months disqualification – La Gazzetta dello Sport

April 29, 2015 – Milan

Lights and shadows on the group. Bettini

Turn. They turn all right and not talk. Emanate from 30 to 500 watts. They are the electric motors for the high-end racing bikes. Even the UCI, the world federciclo, push on the Circ (Independent Commission for reform of cycling), begins to take seriously the problem of doping technology, so that season amended Regulation. Now, in the 12 “Rules and Procedures”, he has introduced a new paragraph: 12.1.013.bis, “Frode technology”. The penalties for the runner is excluded from the order of arrival, the disqualification for a minimum period of six months, a fine from 19,265 to 192,230 euro. Fine tougher for the teams: from 96,135 to 963,160 euro, one million Swiss francs. To find them, abandoned the scanner because of the excessive costs (60 thousand euro the rent), it will be used to the probes. “They can also take apart a bike, so do not find it. Also because often they are not using a bike in the final”, says one of the greatest world experts.

blitz – For the Paris-Nice, two bike team, and the Milan-Sanremo, about 37 between race and stock up on Trek, Etixx, Astana and Tinkoff, the commissioners have used their UCI probes to search for the gimmick. The Super Classic, and it is not secondary, to lead the operations of Imperia also a magistrate and six policemen. “The luck was that they have controlled the media in tow,” reveals our source. But what happened that night, after arriving? Certainly there were lively discussions between team managers and Commissioners. So much so that someone said, “They can control all the bike they want, but they have no right to go up on our vehicles.” Bicycle rigged there was talk in 2010, when Fabian Cancellara was accused by many of having used the scooter in Flanders and Roubaix. Remember the terrifying stretch the Grammont and the plain to take off Boonen’s wheel? But those are not the only suspicious incidents. Daniel Martin, Irish Garmin, fell strangely in the last corner of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2014, but the most striking case concerns the Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, his teammate, in the seventh stage of the Vuelta last year. Remember how turned his bike after the fall?

not only the pros’ – But how they are and how they work scooters? There are very powerful, up to 500 watts. They are using them people who want to have fun and make less effort, but also princes and sheikhs. Not professionals. A well-equipped bike can cost 20 thousand euro. The pro ‘enough smaller engines, lower power, 30 to 70 watts. They may seem little, but they are a lot, a huge amount. In a climber of 60-65 pounds guarantee a power increase from 0.45 to over 1 watt / kg. “The difference, however, is not the power, but the noise. However already use it in many, even in the marathon. In Italy in recent years have been sold 1,200 kits and among the amateurs I often see that in the first 10 there are 5 -6 runners who use it. The scooters are the new EPO. Although the system revolving around sometimes is hidden. It happens that people will buy one meter and sixty frames that are good for people of a six-footer. Clearly that bike not for them, “says our interlocutor.

start – The power of the engine can be made with three different systems. Hardly anyone uses the button, however microscopic and hidden. A system in vogue from 2011 is related to the heart rate monitor. It maps to the computer to which heart rate start it: reached this level, lights, shuts down. The third system, the most innovative, associated with Bluetooth. The motor can thus be turned on remotely, for example from the team car. “With a kind of kers your batteries will last 4-5 hours.” Not even the weight is a problem. “To make them light they are also used in plastic bevel gears, especially for a pro ‘does not count the time. In total weigh 200-300 grams. What do you want to have a bike so light that often have to be ballasted to meet the regulations?”.

caches – Some people say are hidden in the standpipe, or other nell’obliquo in the bottom bracket. There is talk of the wheel hubs. “You can do everything, the possibilities are immense, from science fiction. I am convinced that many companies have built frames with big pipes just to be able to accommodate the engine.” Another road, which this time involves the frame builders, would be that of an internal chamber to the pipes for the housing. The probe, during the inspection process, would drop in the pipes “guided”, ie without finding the obstacle.

biological passport – Assuming that can not be traced, as you can fight? “There is a fairly simple system. In the biological passport should also enter the data to the threshold of power emerging from the test. Then you do the checks during the races. In plain calculation is not easy, uphill instead formulas to work perfection. Physics is physics, not a question of believing or not. For example, if an athlete tests has 420 watts, can not climb a mountain at 430-440. Otherwise has the engine. If nothing is done, we will see races MotoGP “. The creator of the scooters was a Hungarian engineer, Istvan Varjas, who patented the first 17 years ago and put them on the market 8-9 years later. In order not to copy and not to reveal their trade secrets, he bought the components from different companies. Now, however, the production is more extensive and involves companies of German and Austrian model.

the wheels – New technology also concern the wheels, especially those in high profile carbon. There are those who practice the nicks in the circle and passes into a special wire. They say this practice, however, prohibited because modifying a component approved, will serve to “reduce the hertz,” or reduce that effect “noise” that some studies would act negatively on aerodynamics.

Claudio Ghisalberti

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