UCI refers technological fraud case against Femke Van den Driessche to Disciplinary Commission

After U23 rider Femke Van den Driessche of Belgium was caught at the Heusden-Zolder cyclocross world championships with a motorized bike, the Union Cycliste Internationale, it was announced, has referred the case to its independent Disciplinary Commission.

The global cycling body made the announcement on Wednesday.

“Pursuant to the UCI regulations related to technological fraud,” a release published on the UCI’s website read, “the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has today referred the case to the Disciplinary Commission which will hear all relevant parties in the weeks to come.”

“Working independently from the UCI, the Disciplinary Commission is the body in charge of imposing sanctions for breaches of the UCI regulations,” it said.

Going into the women’s U23 competition at the Zolder cyclocross worlds, Van den Driessche, as Canadian Cycling Magazine previously reported, was one of the day’s favourites. By day’s end, though, she had earned not a win but the dubious distinction of being the first UCI rider to be caught with a motorized device in his or her bike. In the Belgian cyclist’s case, electrical cables were found in the seat tube, while a motor was located in the bottom bracket.

In response, UCI president Brian Cookson vowed to take an aggressively zero-tolerance approach to technological fraud, saying that motor-dopers would have “no place to hide.”