Mechanical Doping

(Part 1)

One of the pillars of local cycling, Engr. Mark Anthony Ylanan, passed away last Saturday. Please say a few prayer for him. He was the person most responsible for reviving racing in Cebu. He will be missed.

In the 2010 Tour of Flanders, two riders, both of equal talent, were leading the race when it hit the famous, “Muur van Geraardsbergen.” The “Muur,”  or “wall” in English, is an insanely steep, 9.3 percent cobbled climb that rises from 18m above sea level to 110m (88m) in just 1.1km.

To put it in a familiar context, the climb from JY Square to Marco Polo Hotel is 1.3km long, 84m in height and has a gradient of 6 percent, according to www.strava.com. But, this is a paved climb, not laid down with medieval cobbles.

So imagine Belgian Tom Boonen and Swiss Fabian Cancellara in the lead, two of the best classic riders of their generation and at their prime, duking it out on the second to last climb in the most famous cycling classic, with 16km to go in a 262km race.

What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? Well, one has to yield.

It was a fascinating spectacle, Boonen and Cancellara riding side by side, not willing to concede a millimeter. Every cycling fan knows that if they reach the last kilometer together, Boonen would win due to his superior sprinting and that is why I was expecting Cancellara, the better climber, to make a move on this ascent, because to win, he had to avoid a sprint and drop  Boonen.

With just 200m to go, it looked liked a stalemate and the race favoring Boonen but then as the duo reached the steepest part, Cancellera accelerated. It wasn’t obvious at first when he did because he was seated while you will see is Boonen all over his bicycle, arms and legs flailing, trying to get more power transferred to his machine. Cancellara, on the other hand, was sitting on his bicycle like a Sphinx, “effortlessly” riding away for the win.

Now, this one minute, forty second climb, caused a stir. For those with conspiracy theories and Boonen fans, they just couldn’t believe that Cancellara could drop Boonen like that, “effortlessly.” They pointed out that the Swiss has to be juiced to do something superhuman! But he wasn’t juiced, so they said that his machine was juiced!

And so, mechanical doping became a cycling byword.

Mechanical doping is a term used to define a bicycle attached with a hidden electronic gear that can provide as much as 100watts of additional power from 40-100min. In other words, you just can’t turn on this machine in a 6-hour race like Flanders, you have to use it where it is needed most, like Cancellara did in the Muur.

How much is 100watts then? Sir Bradley Wiggins, the owner of the Hour Record, rode 54.5km in an hour inside a velodrome with an average wattage of 430. I, on the other hand, a reasonably fit 53 years old, can only do a shade over 200watts in 20 minutes. Go figure!

Cancellara was so angry with the accusations and in one interview he said that his body was, “his machine.” This “mechanical doping” was already in existence but no pro cyclist was caught using it. Not until October of 2015.

(To be continued…)