The story is now doing the rounds in the mainstream media in France. It’s been debated on several radio stations and establishment newspaper Le Monde is even asking about it. Cancellara has openly denied it now.
Indeed there have been many new readers here thanks to this story, a welcome to all of you. But whilst I was one of the first to mention the rumours of electric propulsion, please don’t make out that I’m trying to hype up this story. I just find it amusing.
Trust
One problem here is an evident lack of trust in the sport. After all sorts of doping stories and the lengths riders and teams have gone to in order to get an advantage, tales of mechanical advantage sadly make the media and fans alike think “well I suppose it’s technically possible” and then make the leap to associating it with race-winning moves. Even I’ve got question marks and can’t say with certainty it has not been used.
It’s now impossible
Now the story is mainstream I can’t see any rider trying this again. The silliness of the story has made it almost impossible for any rider to use in the future as people are alert, even the UCI is preparing to check bikes more closely. For those of you who say the UCI can’t catch a cold, they do actually manage to stop the likes of Contador using illegal bikes.
Another take
If you want another explanation for Cancellara’s Paris-Roubaix attack, see my take on it a day after the race, it was a classic “Sneak Attack“, nothing else.