“I truly believe that motors were used to win bike races” – Greg LeMond, three-time winner of the Tour de France.
In January 2016, 19-year-old Belgian cyclist Femke van den Driessche was caught with a collection of wires, motors and batteries buried deep inside her spare bike at the Cyclo-cross World Championships.
She was then suspended for six years and bore the wrath of global media as the only rider ever to be banned by The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for having a motor in her bike, despite numerous previous suspicions of other competitive cyclists that have never been confirmed or disproved.
Eight years later, Chris Marshall-Bell is on a mission to reveal the truth around motors in cycling as he peers beneath the surface of sports’ most incredible discovery.
Chris will unpick a tangled web of bizarre misdemeanours, claims and counter-claims. From jail time, bankruptcy and death threats to carnival cat costumes and one daring canary theft – this story is set to keep listeners on the edge of their seat.
Is motor-doping being performed at the highest level? Is this bigger than just one young woman’s spare bicycle?
My preferred pastime is rooted on my couch with yarn and needles or a hook in my hand, and a podcast in the background. I am not sporty at all. Neither I am especially interested in watching sport (unless it’s tennis at Wimbledon). I do enjoy sports documentaries though, or reading about athletes who reach the pinnacle of their discipline. This podcast is about more than sport: it’s about deception, blatant cheating, and human character. It’s also about detective work, and unravelling fact from fiction. This is an ongoing investigation, and podcasts episodes have been paused while Chris Marshall-Bell chases down new leads. I can’t wait for it to resume to hear what he has found out.
