Mechanical doping: Cyclist sentenced to 6-year-ban for using bike with hidden motor - CNET

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Sneaky, but not sneaky enough. When 19-year-old cycling star Femke Van den Driessche pulled out of the last lap of a race this January, organizers discovered her bike had parts that didn't belong: a hidden motor and battery inside the seat tube, controlled by a Bluetooth switch inside the handlebars.

It's the first known case of "mechanical doping" in cycling history, and today marks the first punishment: Van den Driessche has been stripped of her titles, fined a sum of 20,000 swiss francs (roughly $20,000) and baed from the sport for six years.

In January, Van den Driessche pleaded that the bike wasn't hers, but rather an identical one that belonged to a friend. Though the friend confirmed that, it may not have had any bearing on the sentence.

The offending bicycle was discovered using a magnetic resonance scaer, which the Union Cycliste Inteationale goveing body intends to use heavily at future cycling events.

UCI press release