Thermal Imaging To Fight Mechanical Doping In Tour de France

Using drugs during sporting events to enhance once’s performance isn’t anything new. It’s illegal but nothing new. However earlier this year, it was discovered that one cyclist did not dope herself medically, but rather mechanically where officials found that her bicycle had a hidden motor which obviously gave her an edge over the rest of the competition.

However it seems that this wasn’t the first time that mechanical doping was discovered. It was actually discovered back in 2010 where these hidden motors can put out at least 200 watts of power, thus essentially almost doubling a pro-cyclist’s output. To help combat against mechanical doping, the organizers of the Tour de France have worked together with France’s atomic energy commission, the CEA, to utilize thermal imaging in cameras to detect bikes that might have mechanical anomalies.

These cameras will be positioned by the side of the road and will capture bikes as they ride by. These are just one of the methods that will be used and unfortunately and understandably the details of how it works exactly was not released to the public. According to Christian Prudhomme, the person in charge of the Tour, “Protecting the Tour de France is the most important thing. We now have a real deterrent. The cycling world must form a united front to fight against cheating rather than setting off in a dispersed manner.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: bikes