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Video: New motor doping speculation after Izagirre time trial crashIon Izagirre crash YouTube still.JPG

Video: New motor doping speculation after Izagirre time trial crash

Gazzetta dello Sport asks if Movistar rider's bike may have had engine as wheel kept spinning...
by Simon_MacMichael
Thu, Feb 04, 2016 21:06
35

Did Movistar rider Ion Izagirre have a motor illegally concealed in his bike during the 16 kilometre individual time trial at the Vuelta Valenciana yesterday?

That's the question posed by Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport after footage emerged showing the rear wheel of the Spanish rider's Canyon bike continuing to spin after he crashed.

The incident comes just days after a bike prepared for Belgian under-23 cyclo-cross rider Femke Van den Driessche was discovered to have a hidden motor at the World Championships in Zolder on Saturday.

> All our Femke Van den Driessche coverage here

It's also reminiscent of the rumours surrounding Garmin-Sharp's Ryder Hesjedal when his rear will continued to turn following a crash in the 2014 Vuelta.

> 'Motor doping' claims surround Ryder Hesjedal

His former team mate Alex Rasmussen subsequently produced his own video showing how the wheel could keep on spinning on its own.

> Rasmussen seeks to dispel mechanical doping rumours

Spanish sports website Mundo Deportivo's take on the issue is a little different, noting that the Italian dailies didn't miss an opportunity to ignite speculation against Izagirre - accusing La Gazzetta dello Sport and others of sour grapes, in other words.

 

 

 

 

Ion Izagirre
Mechanical doping
Femke Van den Driessche
motor doping
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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35 comments

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davecochrane replied to RPK | 8 years ago
1 like

RPK wrote:

pockstone wrote:

Take another look. Rider seems very keen to stop wheel spinning by tilting the bike as it lies under the crash barrier.  So far so circumstantial.  Gets on bike, rides a few yards and stops. Lays bike down and lo and behold, wheel is spinning again.  Very fast. At least that is what I saw.

Yeah, but the time trial bike will probably be geared reasonably high and have fairly low-friction freehubs etc.  So when he lays the bike down the second time, if the crank is turned by virtue of hitting the road, it could be enough to spin the wheel quickly.

 

Yeah. That's a pretty fair hypothesis.

Avatar
davecochrane | 8 years ago
1 like

If the source video has high enough framerate/resolution, it's not hard to find out if the wheel slowed down at the rate that would be predicted given the hardware in use. If it doesn't slow down...well.

Avatar
Canyon48 | 8 years ago
11 likes

I fell off my bike the other week and the rear wheel kept spinning... (My bike certainly hasn't got a motor in it), this is hardly proof of a motor.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to Canyon48 | 8 years ago
16 likes

wellsprop wrote:

I fell off my bike the other week and the rear wheel kept spinning... (My bike certainly hasn't got a motor in it), this is hardly proof of a motor.

 

are you sure? it might have been a friends bike

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to wycombewheeler | 8 years ago
0 likes

wycombewheeler wrote:

wellsprop wrote:

I fell off my bike the other week and the rear wheel kept spinning... (My bike certainly hasn't got a motor in it), this is hardly proof of a motor.

 

are you sure? it might have been a friends bike

laugh

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