Internal Motor: Hoax or Real?

TECHNOLOGY - There's a new internal motor you can get for your bicycle if you're interested in having motor assistance for your bicycle, especially those hard rides uphill... but its also causing a stir of rumours in the sporting world because there's a video on YouTube which alleges the Swiss champion Fabian Cancellara may have been cheating in recent races.



So far Fabian Cancellara has won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in 2010, but according to an Italian YouTube video (conspiracy theorist type stuff) he may have been using a tiny motor which rests inside the bicycle frame and bottom bracket.

"In fact, it’s pretty funny but it is such a big story that it’s no longer the case," says Fabian Cancellara. "It’s a sad story and really outrageous. Don’t worry my accomplishments are the result of hard work."

"I don’t see an advantage for a guy like Cancellara cheating this way," says Vincent Jourdain, coach of the Canadian national road team. "Can you imagine if he got caught and was found using a motorized bike? I’m not saying that no one would ever try it, but there’s way too much to lose. Maybe I’m wrong. Who knows? But he’s a real specimen on the bike. He doesn’t need a bike like that."

Now that this story has come out it means the UCI might have to change the way they inspect bikes before and after races, checking inside the frame and weighing the bicycle. If the technology is now there it means some cyclists might try to use it.

29-year-old Fabian Cancellara has been winning races since 1998. He is a three-time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist (Beijing 2008). He's been performing feats of speed and endurance for years now, earning him the nickname 'the Swiss Spartacus'.

The motor technology is real, but the idea that Fabian Cancellara would cheat is pure hoax and more likely to be the result of Italian rivalry with the Swiss.