海角大神

Pro cycling fans may be lamenting the first-ever accusations of 鈥渕echanical doping鈥� against a female Belgian cyclocross star, but those who want to see the formation of formal E-bike racing circuits are hailing it as a progress.

The聽Union Cycliste Internationale聽(UCI), cycling鈥檚 governing body,聽聽its first case of technical fraud when Femke Van den Driessche聽聽to be using a motorized bike to compete in聽Saturday鈥檚聽World Championships.

聽the bike belonged to a friend and was shuffled into her race-day bike lineup by mistake.

In a press conference, UCI President Brian Cookson confirmed the existence of a motor: 鈥淚t is no secret that a motor was found...we believe that it was indeed technological doping.鈥�

"Cycling is a sport and like most sports people are always going to be seeking the advantage, " says聽聽Spokesperson Chuck Hodge. "However, we have a very strict anti-doping stance and as a result of this case we are going to be looking into mechanical doping as well to see what we need to do there to crack-down."

鈥淚 think as much as it is a disgrace, from another angle it is also a testament to the difficulties of competing in the sport,鈥� writes Jeff Silverberg, whose son,聽,聽races on the world cycling stage for UCI team聽,聽in an e-mail to 海角大神.聽鈥淭he riders are so good, and so willing to push themselves to their very limits 鈥� that despite this 鈥� it is still not enough. A difficult sport to reach the top, to say the least.鈥澛�

聽cycling technology expert,聽, says in a phone interview not to underestimate the power of this hidden technology.

"Some people may claim that these electronic assists are too small to matter but if you're getting a one- or two-percent boost going up a hill, in a race at that level, it's the difference between winning and losing," Mr. Cheney says.

Fans on took to Twitter to voice their opinions, both moral and mechanical.

Concerns over mechanical enhancement are not new to cycling, with red flags popping up all over YouTube over the past five years.

In 2010 a YouTube聽video聽created by Italian Cycling Expert聽Michele Bufalino聽.

In 2015, three time Tour de France winner聽Greg LeMond built a bike and demonstrated in a聽video聽, with a control mechanism in a faux water bottle.

鈥淧art of me is upset that people are still trying to find ways to cheat in pro cycling,鈥� says electric bicycle pioneer聽聽of Los Angeles, Calif., in an interview.

In 2013 Mr. Keegan released a video of what he now calls his聽鈥� that uses聽neodymium electromagnets in the hub motors to reach speeds up to 50 miles per hour. 鈥淏ut another part of me is excited thinking that maybe this is a chance, an opportunity, for people to start talking about hyper-cross.鈥�

鈥淗yper-cross鈥� is Keegan鈥檚 term for what he says is the natural evolution of cycling from the days of cycling races that featured聽聽wheels (front wheels reaching 60 inches in diameter) with tiny back wheels,聽to today鈥檚 electronically and mechanically enhanced聽.

鈥淵es, doped bikes are enhanced, and it鈥檚 cheating, but the same thing could be said about the derailleur,聽which gives us gear ratio assistance and is commonly used today but would probably have been seen as cheating in the 1800s,鈥� Keegan says. 鈥淥f course it鈥檚 cheating when only one racer has them, but then let鈥檚 not squash it all. Let鈥檚 regulate it. Move ahead and create a race circuit for聽. Let鈥檚 get technology past the cheating and move it over into advancing the sport.鈥�