A teary-eyed Femke Van den Dreissche was interviewed in her home by TV network Sporza, and the teenager protested her innocence. She proclaimed she knew nothing about the motor discovered in her bike in the U23 women's race at the World Cyclocross Championships.
By Brian Canty
The Belgian teenager at the centre of a ‘bike doping’ storm has denied any wrongdoing and suggested other people were responsible.
Femke Van den Dreissche (19) is the reigning Belgian and European U23 champion and went into the inaugural U23 women's race at the World Cyclocross Championships on Sunday as a favourite.
However, she had mechanical trouble at the start and again on the penultimate lap. She was forced to walk across the finish line on the bell lap and abandoned.
However, another bike that her home federation says was her's was checked for a motor in the pits area.
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The check, by UCI officials using new electronic tablet testing units, flagged the bike as suspicious. And when it was taken away, a motor was confirmed inside it.
A tearful Van den Dreissche on Sunday said she knew nothing about the offending bike.
“I didn’t know anything about it. I don’t know how that bike got there," she said in the Sporza interview.
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"I was surprised to see that bike standing there. It’s not my bike. There’s been a mistake.
“If I would’ve been on a bike like that I would’ve been more consistent. I’ve always peaked towards those moments. I worked really hard for it.”
She said the bike was owned by a friend and that a mistake by the mechanics had seen it taken into the pits as one of her spares.
“I don’t know how it got there. I’m focused on myself on that day. I took care of myself. I was in front. At the back, the mechanics made a mistake.
“That bike belongs to a friend of mine,” she said. “He trains along with us. He joined my brothers and my father.
“That friend joined my brother at the reconnaissance and he placed the bike against the truck but it’s identical to mine.
“Last year he bought it from me. My mechanics have cleaned the bike and put it in the truck.
“They must’ve thought that it was my bike. I don’t know how it happened.”
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