Lead-lined x-ray truck to test racing bicycles for motors. Photo / UCI
David Lappartient, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), has unveiled a raft of new measures aimed at combating what is known as mechanical doping, including a lead-lined portable X-ray machine which will be taken to races as of this month.
The Frenchman, who replaced Englishman Brian Cookson last
autumn and campaigned on the need for more and better tests against "technological fraud", said he wanted to "deploy new instruments" so that the checks going forward were "incontestable".
Under Cookson, the UCI developed software for handheld magnetometric tablets but the Englishman was accused of not taking the problem seriously enough, with the magnets said to be imprecise and potentially unable to spot certain types of motor.
The UCI will continue to use the tablets and thermal imaging cameras, as well as the new $NZ800,000 bespoke, lead-lined X-ray unit.
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"We don't want to find hidden motors, we want to prove they are not there," Lappartient told journalists at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday. "I believe cycling is one of the most beautiful sports but fans must believe what they are seeing. We will continue to wage the fight against doping [with drugs] but we'll also fight this battle.
