
Femke Van den Driessche, a former European cyclocross champion, remains the only cyclist ever banned by the UCI for mechanical doping after a motor was found in one of her bikes during the UCI World Cup in Zolder.
And now eight years on from the infamous case, the coaches in charge of the Belgian national team that day have spoken of their shock and shame at what happened, even though they were not responsible.
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National coach on the day, Rudy De Bie, has now said he suspects Van den Driessche was using the motor when she won the U23 European title in 2015 and again that season when she was 2nd in the Koppenberg race.
He also recalls, in an interview with Sporza, how stunned he was that day in Zolder in January, 2016, when he saw the saddle taken out of Van den Driessche's spare bike and wires clearly visible.
"It was halfway through the race and Femke no longer had a chance of a good result when I received a message that I had to come to the car pits at the Zolder circuit," De Bie told Sporza's podcast Fichebak.
"The moment I entered the room, they removed the saddle with the seat post from the frame and I also see wires appearing. I won't say that my world collapsed then, but it was something like: 'This can't be possible, can it?'
"It still gives me goosebumps. And then for a 19-year-old girl. It is incomprehensible. Did I feel betrayed? Certainly betrayed. And then you immediately felt shame, even though you had nothing to do with it."
Jos Smets, who was sporting director of Belgian Cycling at the time, said he can still recall the day in question with great clarity.
"I still see that bicycle. The saddle has been removed and those wires hanging out of it. That was clearly a bicycle with a motor in it," he said.
"No one could actually believe what was happening there. That was something unreal and suddenly it becomes reality. That happens in Zolder, at a World Cup in your own country, with a Belgian athlete. That doesn't make you feel good."
De Bie suspects the bike with the motor was not being used on the day it was discovered because the race was run in heavy rain and Van den Driessche did not trust it in such adverse conditions. However, he did not believe the rider's claims that her friend, Nico Van Muylder, owned the bike.
She claimed the bike had been brought to the pits by mistake, but De Bie points out Van Muylder did not know how to start the motor when he was asked to. He also suspects Van den Driessche used the motor when winning the Europeans, a title which was expunged when she was banned for six years.
For her part, Van den Driessche is now aged 27 years and said she has been getting on with life and not lingering in the past.
"Everything is going well with me. I am a mother of two young children and now work in my parents' business. I have given that whole event a place. You should not get stuck in the past."