Triathlon is beginning checks for hidden motors and its competitors would appear to stand no chance of evading the testers.
Less than four months after the first hidden motor was found on a bike by the cycling’s world governing body the UCI, triathlon is to introduce checks for so-called bike doping.
Ironman has confirmed it will be checking for technological fraud, including hidden motors.
It added in a statement it would team up with the UCI to carry out the checks.
The UCI has already indicated its bike checks are being significantly ramped up this year, with 10,000 to be carried out in 2016.
“Technological fraud is contrary to the spirit of Ironman and of fair play,” said Andrew Messick, Ironman’s chief executive.
“Athletes who choose to gain advantage by such means undermine the trust and norms of our community, the tenet of fair competition, and the accomplishment of completing the entire race under one’s own power.”
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Ironman was teaming up with the UCI “to leverage the latest technology to combat the concealment of motors or other artificial accelerating devices by athletes looking to gain an unfair advantage”.
Thermal cameras were tested by the UCI in checking for motors but proved ineffective.
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The checks should be much easier to perform at Ironman than at bike races, where there is no holding area for bikes.
At Ironman, because all competitors must leave their bikes in the transition area when they are going out on their run – the final leg of the event – all of the bikes are assembled in one place for a prolonged period.
It will mean officials using the hand held tablet scanners the UCI has already devised would be able to conduct a large number of checks very quickly, and possibly check every bike in a race.
The UCI has developed ‘magnetic flux density tablets’ which alert the operator if there is a hidden motor in a bike.
And it has also said it tested thermal cameras, which have already been used by a TV crew, but these proved ineffective.
The TV show claimed it found evidence motors were being used by pro riders earlier this year but the UCI said the programme's findings were "consistent with normal heat from moving parts".
Ironman said its checks would be conducted at its events all over the world and at all championship races.
Any athlete found to be committing technological fraud will be disqualified from the relevant event and face an indefinite suspension from the discipline.
The UCI has increased its focus on hidden motor checks after one was found at the World Cyclocross Championships in Belgium back in January.
The 19-year-old Belgian rider caught with a motor in her bike, Femke Van den Driessche, was last month banned from racing for six years.
However, many in the sport felt the focus of the inquiry should have been around how the motor came to be there and whether the rider had any assistance and, if so, from whom.
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