Hidden motors used at Strade Bianche, claims French TV (+ video)

Unlike PED testing, inspection is fast, cheap, and 100% reliable.    It's just a matter of doing it.

Rather than 'reporting the names and teams to the UCI' let's get them into the public domain.

Let the peloton and riders police themselves.

Then ban the offending teams.

"Previously, they used this 'evidence' to accuse him of doping. Now the same 'evidence' is being used to accuse him of having a hidden motor "

-  Why not both? Quite a sensible belt and braces approach I would've thought...:-)

There may be something in this, and it needs looking at. As they acknowledge in the France 2 report, a thermal camera could be used to raise a suspicion, followed by a physical inspection.

What's disappointing is that Stade 2 still have a bee in their collective bonnet about Froome and La Pierre St Martin. He went jolly fast up there, and the unimpeachable (!) Cedric Vasseur said this was surprising. Previously, they used this 'evidence' to accuse him of doping. Now the same 'evidence' is being used to accuse him of having a hidden motor. Who knows what it will be used to 'prove' next month.

If one day there is proof that Froome has cheated, then it will be quite right for the media to expose him. For so long as there is no evidence, just cheap speculation based on 'look how fast he's riding', it's irresponsible and unfair to point the finger.

I'm certainly no expert on IR-heat signatures, but what about heat caused by friction from the front derailleur? Or heat caused by the electronic parts on the front derailleur (assuming it is an electronic system). And lastly, heat generated by the crankset? Could this all spread to the lower part of the seat tube?

Pic shows the cyclist has a wooden foot.

Just to be a pedant, this report says seat post. Do you mean seat tube? I could see the battery being in the seat pin but surely the motor needs to be as close to the BB as possible.

And I suspect there might be a lot of seat post heat signatures of batteries found in the pro peloton as I believe that's where Di2/EPS batteries are fitted?

I think it's a hot Baloney stuffed down the seat tube. 

FLIR cameras are vastly different in appearance to broadcast television cameras. Source: me, a TV cameraman.

I have reliable information from an unimpeachable source that proves conclusively that this is all bollocks. 

No, I'm not going to tell you who the source is, nor am I going to share the information with you.

You'll just have to believe me!

This is fishy.  No doubt we do need to worry about motor doping,  but the report above offers little evidence, and using thermal imaging cameras is not in the least bit reliable friction and heat will exist in patches in a moving structure. a hot hub can just be a bit of grit that's got it. flexing cabon tubes will create heat too.  maybe use it as a device to advise after race checks but in its self it cant be evidence

There are lies, damn lies, and misleading data visualisation techniques. In the thermal images I have seen, the scale calibration varies widely, with the ones from demo runs on known motor-equipped bikes representing a greater than 20C range, while the ones supposedly captured during a real race seem to be less than 10C. That not only reduces the maximum, it means the false colouring, based as it is on density slicing, will exaggerate differences within the cooler images. Mechanical cheating could be happening, but this doesn't come close to proving it (as they know otherwise they'd name names.)

...

"The image above wasn’t taken during a race, but was shown during the Stade 2 report to highlight the heat signature given off by a motor concealed in a seat post."

I assume this means that picture showing heat coming from the seat tube was just a test the tv company did then.

The tv company/channel/whatever say they have reported it to the UCI and they say they have proof of seven motors being used by pros. Sounds like a load of publicity balls to me, if they won't name anyone or provide evidence, then how is anyone meant to believe they have any evidence at all?

The disguised IR cameras sounds a bit fishy too. An IR camera fundamentally isn't vastly different to a visiual spectrum camera. Moreover, why would they need to disguise it, riders aren't going to suddenly be able to cover up a heat signature from a motor if they realise they are being filmed on an IR camera. It's almost like they are saying they used disguised IR cameras to make the general public believe that is what they did and therefore try an give some credibility to what they are suggesting.

I'm not saying that motors in bikes hasn't/isn't going on, but I struggle to believe journalists who are making vague claims...