Good evening, you lovely people,
first timer here; I‘ve been a cycling fan since 1998, Ullrich and Pantani, that's how it all started, and now – at least since this year – I'm seriously ‘pissed and mad about it’.
A brief background: I trained at a high level for five years, 18-24 hours per week, Vo2Max was at 82-85, and from 2019 to 2023, I did about 2,600 hours of indoor training on the Smarttrainer.
Why am I telling you this?
I noticed something odd on stage 6 of Dauphine; keyword: Pogačar's attack.
Feel free to watch the video (preferably on a slightly larger screen).
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C7M7PkRQL4&t=111s
Until about minute
1:44, Vingegaard is right behind Pogačar.
Then, at
1:46, Pogačar looks down at his bike computer (or whatever it is) and then pulls away decisively from poor Vingegaard – Pogačars performance simply explodes (seated).
It looks as if the motor is kicking in.
In fact, it's the same sequence of events that Pogačar performed immediately before his winning attack at Flèche Wallone 2025 (looking down, sudden explosion of power, seated).
But we already know all this. What I find really strange in the rest of the video:
At around
1:49 (and perhaps also at
1:52), his cadence seems to vary – it's hard to see, and only for about two or three pedal revolutions. In my opinion, for a very brief, almost imperceptible moment, his cadence becomes slightly faster and then drops slightly again, all without shifting gears (as he did before the attack, for example). It happens within second(s).
This observation – Pogačar does not shift gears, the power output remains consistently high (he pulls away significantly), but the cadence still varies – immediately reminded me of indoor training and the behaviour of my Tacx Neo (used in ERG-mode).
When riding intervals with the Tacx Neo 2 at high power – say anything above 350 watts; it becomes really clear with the Tacx Neo 2 when switching from 470 watts to 370 watts, for example – the chip sometimes doesn't work fast enough and a similar phenomenon occurs; with the Tacx Neo, because the full resistance is not immediately available at the start of the interval (= very high cadence for a short time), but is then present after one or two seconds (= so the cadence lowers).
With regard to the attack: Pogačar's hypothetical motor must – after being activated by him – have had an (unforeseen) power spike upwards (= sudden higher cadence because suddenly there is less ‚real‘ resistance from the mountain
?) in order to ‘readjust’ immediately after one or two seconds (= lowering of the cadence because there is higher ‚real‘ resistance
?).
Take a look for yourself. I find it hard to notice, but when you do, it’s telling. For me, this is a clear indication that a motor is being used. And perhaps, as an engineer, one can deduce how this motor might work.
PS:
According to Grok, it now seems possible to make only a certain part of a carbon frame conductive in order to operate a hidden motor without having to install power cables, plugs or similar.
Grok says:
„Carbon fibres in carbon frames are naturally slightly conductive, but the epoxy resin matrix insulates them. By using conductive resins or adding conductive materials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes or metal particles (e.g. silver or copper), electrical conductivity can be specifically increased. These materials can be embedded in specific areas of the frame to create current paths. During the manufacturing process of the carbon frame, conductive layers or strips can be incorporated into the carbon structure to conduct electricity from a power source (e.g. a hidden battery) to a motor."
PPS:
Very interesting in this context (I asked Grok about ownership of Colnago):
„In
May 2020, bicycle manufacturer Colnago was acquired by Chimera Investments LLC, an investment fund based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.“
Well, and UAE – which is ultimately what this is all about – happens to be the team's main sponsor.
And it is surely just a coincidence that Pogačar won his first Tour de France victory in
2020 – we all remember the notorious time trial up to ‘La Planche des Belles Filles’.
Quite clever, actually, to buy the bicycle manufacturer right away (to secretely implement the stuff you need).
And an idea that could only come from someone who has nothing to do with cycling, its fascination and history. Someone who simply asks themselves how stupid you have to be not to use a hidden motor.
Have a nice evening!
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