UCI President Brian Cookson confirmed at a press conference on Sunday morning that technical modifications had been made to Femke Van den Driessche's bike. Signs of an engine were discovered in the seat tube of the U23 rider.

"It's no longer a secret that a motor was found in Femke Van den Driessche's bike," Cookson explained. "We believe that this is the first case of technological doping." The regulations regarding technical doping were only amended this January. The rider will be banned for at least six months and fined between CHF 20,000 and CHF 200,000. The UCI has introduced the same controls at these cyclocross world championships as are already applied at the road races. More precise details of the controls are understandably not being disclosed.

Van den Driessche started in the women's U23 race and already had problems with her bike on the first lap; it is known that bikes may be exchanged in cyclocross (2 per rider). However, the Belgian was never able to intervene in the decision, in the last lap she suffered another defect and had to cross the finish line. Rumor has it that Van den Driessche's father modified the bike accordingly, but yesterday he denied knowing anything about the modification, let alone the bike. A little anecdote in passing: Nils Van den Driessche, Femke's brother, is currently serving a doping ban. On the Belgian sports portal Sporza there is already an interview (only in Belgian) with the alleged offender and her father, the offense is denied. LINK

Details about the engine or the technical modifications to the bike will be released in the coming days. The bike is still under investigation. However, it is suspected that a model similar to the Vivax Assist motor was used. The UCI checks also continued on Sunday at the men's races.