Sir Bradley Wiggins: Motor doping has been in cycling 'for a while'
By Matt Westby in Dubai
Last Updated: 02/02/16 7:56pm
Sir Bradley Wiggins believes cheats have been placing motors in bikes at top-level cycle races "for a while".
Suspicion of mechanical doping has been rife since 2010 but it wasn't until a motor was discovered in Belgian rider Femke Van den Dreissche's bike at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships on Saturday that evidence emerged to back the claims up.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Dubai Tour, where he is racing this week, Wiggins revealed he was not surprised by the find.
He said: "It has been around for a while, hasn't it? For five years now, they have had this suspicion and have been checking the bikes, but this is the first one they [the International Cycling Union] have found.
"I'm sure it has happened in the past, but they haven't found them."
Mechanical doping was first mooted when Fabian Cancellara was forced to defend himself against accusations that his wins at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in 2010 were aided by a motor.
The issue then resurfaced in 2014, when the wheel of bike belonging to Ryder Hesjedal appeared to turn itself after the Canadian had crashed.
Wiggins believes riders caught with motors in their bikes should face lifetime bans, but he also thinks third parties are involved and should be sanctioned.
He added: "The manufacturers have to take some responsibility as well, but then also the UCI. They govern the sport and they found it. It's good that they have found it, because they have been checking them for five years now.
"They did it after the hour record; they took my bike to pieces. They didn't give up with it, which is a good thing."
Wiggins has spent most of his career riding in an era defined by blood doping and is discouraged to see cheating take a new form.
He said: "It's different from blood doping. It wouldn't say it is worse; they are both as bad as each other. I can understand why some people would choose to dope with what is at stake and what is to be gained from it, financially and things, but to stick a motor in your bike, I don't understand the logic behind that - winning a race because you've got an extra 200-odd watts in your bottom bracket."
