Femke Van den Driessche denies using motor at cyclo-cross World Championships

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Femke Vౠan Den Driessche (Belgium) takes the women's U23 European championship(Image credit: Bettini)

Belgian cyclo-cross rider Femke Van den Driessche has denied any knowledge of the motor that was discovered in her bike at the World Ch🐼ampionships in Zolder on Saturday. In an emotional interview with , Van den Driessche – joined by her father - said that she had been surprised by its presence and💧 said she was innocent.

The 19-year-old Van den Driessche found herself at the centre of a storm after the inaugural women’s under 23 race when the UCI found a motor inside the frame of h🍃er bike during ro💃utine checks. The Belgian press reported the finding ဣof electrical cables in the seat 💞post and a motor in the bottom bracket. She now faces at least a six-month ban and 20,000 Swiss franc fine, although the punishment could be much more severe than that.

As Belgian and European under 23 champion, Van den Driessche had gone into the race as one of the favourites. Beset, perhaps ironically, by mechanical issues she didn’t play a part in it and was eventually forced to ꦿcross the line on foot because of them. Van den Driessche is als♏o a former mountain bike junior national champion. When asked if this could spell the end of her young career Van den Driessche said, “yes, I think so.”

Van den Driessche offered up a potential reason for the bike’s presence, saying that it was owned by someone she’d been training with. “That bike belongs to a friend of mine,” she said. “He trains along with us. He joined my brothers and my father. That friend joined my brother at the reconnaissance and he placed the bike against the truck but it’s identical to mine. Last year he bought it from me. My mechanics have cleaned the bike and put it😼 in the truck. They must’ve thought that it was my bike. I don’t know how it happened.”