At the recent WorldTour seminar in Nice, cycling’s biggest stakeholders sat through a presentation on the ongoing threat of technological fraud. At one point, the former Homeland criminal investigator Nick Raudenski turned to a screen where a carefully curated video depicted how the UCI is tackling the risk of concealed motors in bikes. 

UCI technicians were shown inserting a camera inside the frame of Jonas Vingegaard’s Cervélo at the Tour de France; Lotto Dstny’s Victor Campenaerts was shown watching an inspection of his own bike; and then Raudenski delivered a line that was intended to remind those watching that though not one single rider has been found with a hidden motor in their bike at a professional race since 2016, the danger remains as real as ever. 

“We’ve come across a lot of allegations, a lot of beliefs, a lot of suspicions, and a lot of suspicious performances,” said Raudenski, who has headed up the UCI’s fight against technological fraud team since May. “I don’t think anything is impossible. I think we always have to be awake to what potentially could happen.”

This article was published on Cyclingnews in December 2024. You can read the full article here.