The Motor They Hid Inside a World Championship Bike (And How They Caught It)

On a rainy Saturday in January 2016, an official from the UCI, cycling's world governing body, walked into the pit lane at the Zolder circuit in Belgium holding what looked like an ordinary tablet computer. He passed it along the spare bikes waiting in the pit, and one of them made the screen react. That bike belonged to the home favourite in the first ever women's under twenty-three world championship. But when officials pulled out the seatpost, there were wires inside the frame. So how did a motor get in there, and how long had it been riding with her?