Latest news with #FemkeVanDenDriessche
Straits Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
War on hidden motors goes undercover
BOLLENE, France - The International Cycling Union (UCI) has intensified its fight against mechanical doping, employing intelligence-driven methods to combat increasingly sophisticated alleged cheating in professional cycling. Once, inspectors relied on random X-rays and magnetic scans to catch offenders. Now, the UCI is borrowing tactics from law enforcement – building confidential sources, mapping risk profiles and monitoring bike changes in real time – to stay ahead in what officials call a technological arms race. Mechanical doping – riders using concealed motors – first gained attention in 2010 and led to the six-year ban of Belgium's Femke Van Den Driessche after a bluetooth-controlled motor was discovered in her seat tube at a cyclo-cross event. Since then, the UCI has expanded its detection arsenal, now employing daily checks of up to 60 bikes during the Tour de France. All bikes have passed the checks since the Tour started in Lille on July 5. "We have the ability... to go further with our examinations, whether that's a partial dismantlement of the bike to look into certain components, act upon suspicions, act upon information that we have," Nick Raudenski, the UCI Head of the Fight Against Technological Fraud, told Reuters on Wednesday. Raudenski, a former criminal investigator with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, took over in May last year and immediately pushed for a new approach. "Bike controls, it's something that I've always equated anytime that I've done speeches or done training, it's like throwing your hook out in the middle of a lake trying to catch fish," he said. "If you don't have a strategy, if you're not informed about how to catch fish, what time of day, what kind of fish, where you can catch fish." THINK LIKE A FRAUDSTER Part of that strategy is to think like the cheats. "My idea is to put myself in the shoes of a fraudster. How would I do this and how would I get away with it? And that's part of my background as a criminal investigator, to try to think about not what we know, but what we don't know," he said. The challenge is relentless innovation. "It's a bit of a technological arms race. Components are getting lighter, smaller. Easier to conceal, which is harder to detect," Raudenski said. "And so, trying to stay ahead of what's potentially possible is always a challenge." For Raudenski, the mission is clear: keep fans believing in the sport. "People still need to believe, at least from the technological fraud side, that they're not climbing a stage like yesterday, and people just immediately think, 'oh, well, they must be on a motor'," he said. "Knowing that our processes are in place, that we're conducting the controls that we're doing, that there is that insurance that the enforcement controls that we have in place, that doesn't happen at this level." REUTERS
CNA
7 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
War on hidden motors goes undercover
BOLLENE, France :The International Cycling Union (UCI) has intensified its fight against mechanical doping, employing intelligence-driven methods to combat increasingly sophisticated alleged cheating in professional cycling. Once, inspectors relied on random X-rays and magnetic scans to catch offenders. Now, the UCI is borrowing tactics from law enforcement – building confidential sources, mapping risk profiles and monitoring bike changes in real time – to stay ahead in what officials call a technological arms race. Mechanical doping – riders using concealed motors – first gained attention in 2010 and led to the six-year ban of Belgium's Femke Van Den Driessche after a bluetooth-controlled motor was discovered in her seat tube at a cyclo-cross event. Since then, the UCI has expanded its detection arsenal, now employing daily checks of up to 60 bikes during the Tour de France. All bikes have passed the checks since the Tour started in Lille on July 5. "We have the ability... to go further with our examinations, whether that's a partial dismantlement of the bike to look into certain components, act upon suspicions, act upon information that we have," Nick Raudenski, the UCI Head of the Fight Against Technological Fraud, told Reuters on Wednesday. Raudenski, a former criminal investigator with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, took over in May last year and immediately pushed for a new approach. "Bike controls, it's something that I've always equated anytime that I've done speeches or done training, it's like throwing your hook out in the middle of a lake trying to catch fish," he said. "If you don't have a strategy, if you're not informed about how to catch fish, what time of day, what kind of fish, where you can catch fish." THINK LIKE A FRAUDSTER Part of that strategy is to think like the cheats. "My idea is to put myself in the shoes of a fraudster. How would I do this and how would I get away with it? And that's part of my background as a criminal investigator, to try to think about not what we know, but what we don't know," he said. The challenge is relentless innovation. "It's a bit of a technological arms race. Components are getting lighter, smaller. Easier to conceal, which is harder to detect," Raudenski said. "And so, trying to stay ahead of what's potentially possible is always a challenge." For Raudenski, the mission is clear: keep fans believing in the sport. "People still need to believe, at least from the technological fraud side, that they're not climbing a stage like yesterday, and people just immediately think, 'oh, well, they must be on a motor'," he said. "Knowing that our processes are in place, that we're conducting the controls that we're doing, that there is that insurance that the enforcement controls that we have in place, that doesn't happen at this level."
Reuters
7 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
War on hidden motors goes undercover
BOLLENE, France, July 23 (Reuters) - The International Cycling Union (UCI) has intensified its fight against mechanical doping, employing intelligence-driven methods to combat increasingly sophisticated alleged cheating in professional cycling. Once, inspectors relied on random X-rays and magnetic scans to catch offenders. Now, the UCI is borrowing tactics from law enforcement – building confidential sources, mapping risk profiles and monitoring bike changes in real time – to stay ahead in what officials call a technological arms race. Mechanical doping – riders using concealed motors – first gained attention in 2010 and led to the six-year ban of Belgium's Femke Van Den Driessche after a bluetooth-controlled motor was discovered in her seat tube at a cyclo-cross event. Since then, the UCI has expanded its detection arsenal, now employing daily checks of up to 60 bikes during the Tour de France. All bikes have passed the checks since the Tour started in Lille on July 5. "We have the ability... to go further with our examinations, whether that's a partial dismantlement of the bike to look into certain components, act upon suspicions, act upon information that we have," Nick Raudenski, the UCI Head of the Fight Against Technological Fraud, told Reuters on Wednesday. Raudenski, a former criminal investigator with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, took over in May last year and immediately pushed for a new approach. "Bike controls, it's something that I've always equated anytime that I've done speeches or done training, it's like throwing your hook out in the middle of a lake trying to catch fish," he said. "If you don't have a strategy, if you're not informed about how to catch fish, what time of day, what kind of fish, where you can catch fish." Part of that strategy is to think like the cheats. "My idea is to put myself in the shoes of a fraudster. How would I do this and how would I get away with it? And that's part of my background as a criminal investigator, to try to think about not what we know, but what we don't know," he said. The challenge is relentless innovation. "It's a bit of a technological arms race. Components are getting lighter, smaller. Easier to conceal, which is harder to detect," Raudenski said. "And so, trying to stay ahead of what's potentially possible is always a challenge." For Raudenski, the mission is clear: keep fans believing in the sport. "People still need to believe, at least from the technological fraud side, that they're not climbing a stage like yesterday, and people just immediately think, 'oh, well, they must be on a motor'," he said. "Knowing that our processes are in place, that we're conducting the controls that we're doing, that there is that insurance that the enforcement controls that we have in place, that doesn't happen at this level."
France 24
11-07-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Raudenski: from Homeland Security to Tour de France engine hunter
"I'm not one to look away. If we find something, it's going to be a big deal" he told AFP. With his solid build, bushy beard, baseball-cap and gravelly voice, the American has been the head of the fight against technological fraud at the International Cycling Union (UCI) since 2024, a potential plague that hovers over an increasingly fast peloton. Raudenski explains he tried to get into the mindset of a fraudster, to imagine how they might behave in order to avoid detection, in the same manner he did at the Department of Homeland Security. "Having that mentality of what you expect to see, what's normal, and then what's out of the ordinary, what's abnormal,"he said. "Some idiot decided to blow up a plane by putting a bomb in his shoe (Richard Reid in 2001) so now everyone has to take their shoes off at the security check at airports," he explains. "Now it's the same in cycling." Although technological fraud is often discussed, the only proven case in professional cycling dates back to 2016 when the Belgian Femke Van den Driessche, 19, was found to have a motor in her bike at the U23 Cyclo-cross World Championships. Since then despite thousands of checks nothing more has been found. "Why haven't we found anything since 2016 why hasn't there been any proven case since the girl in Belgium, I just don't know, but it haunts me," he said. 'That's not me' To find out why that is the case the UCI is strengthening its system year after year. In 2024, some 192 bikes were X-rayed at the Tour de France, including systematically those of the stage winner and the overall leader, a 17% increase compared to 2023 "This year there will be more," insists the UCI, which has also launched a rewards program offering incentives, including financial ones, to those who provide real information. At last month's Critérium du Dauphiné Raudenski gave AFP a behind-the-scenes look at these tests, from the finish line, where he intercepts the riders, to the tent set up behind the podium where the bikes are examined. "At the start of the stage the race stewards inspect the bikes with magnetic boards," he said. "They can then alert us by phone if they notice something. "We watch the race to see if anything stands out, like a rider changing his bike. "That allows us to target riders we want to test come the end of the stage aside from those we automatically do." The UCI also checks the bikes of riders who undergo doping tests. To check the bikes, Raudenski and his team now use a portable X-ray machine with which technicians, wearing dosimeters around their necks, scan the bikes from top to bottom. "These (X-ray) machines are so high grade we can see everything that is inside the bike," he said. "It is like one in a hospital. "This prevents the need to dismantle 30 bikes every day. "There are not 150 places where one can hide something. "Also we know exactly what we are looking for." Raudenski says he and his team are constantly on the lookout regarding the latest technology. "We're looking at developments across drone capabilities how they power battery-powered drones and how they can hide a smaller battery," he added. He is "very confident", though, that the checks are effective. "I am really keen people believe what they see in the ascent of a mountain or a dazzling attack and do not say: 'ah there you go he is using an engine'." As for accusations that the UCI might bury a potential case to avoid damaging the sport's image, the former investigator is adamant: "That's out of the question." © 2025 AFP
