seems like a nice family

[bthornt]

More on the motorized bike situation:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-den-driessches-friend-claims-ownership-of-motorised-bike/

[pavel]

lawyer up

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/60461/1335982-harvey_birdman.jpg

[ultraman6970]

Why it took so long for this? If the story is like she says, that the girl dropped the bike at the event and then left, well... great friend! D How is that she did not tell other one or much better, how come she did not know about the motor in the bike? or she did?

[Fiertetimestwo]

Stolen Parakeets!! You couldn't make this stuff up.

[djg21]

Why it took so long for this? If the story is like she says, that the girl dropped the bike at the event and then left, well... great friend! D How is that she did not tell other one or much better, how come she did not know about the motor in the bike? or she did?

So we are to believe that a "friend" bought her used bike, and then plunked down money to have a state-of-the-art motor installed in that used bicycle, and it happened to be to be kept in the pit with Van den Driessche's identical bikes. Okee dokee. :rolleyes: This should be strict liability and a lifetime ban no questions asked.

[ultraman6970]

Thats the thing.. doesnt add up, this girl is screwed, probably was not her the one racing but her twin?

We havent heard of the mechanic either... he is not going to get involved on this at all IMO.

[jlwdm]

This is getting better and better - the parakeet story is priceless. What will be next b

Jeff

[R3awak3n]

reading that article is like if there was a cycling onion.

I mean this whole thing is comic but then this:

hat bike belongs to a friend of mine, she said. 滴e 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痴 identical to mine. Last year he bought it from me. My mechanics have cleaned the bike and put it in the truck. They must致e thought that it was my bike. I don稚 know how it happened.



and then this:

"Van den Driessche’s father and brother charged with stealing expensive birds"


is it April 1st yet?

[Dead Man]

Sorry... I'd like to believe 'em... but they're completely full of ····.

Lifetime ban, I say. This is the most pathetic kind of cheating there is.

[echappist]

lawyer up

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/60461/1335982-harvey_birdman.jpg

http://images.amcnetworks.com/amc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/better-call-saul-saul-goodman-esq-800x600.jpg

[bicycletricycle]

Well, you can't choose your family so it's a little rough to automatically lump her in. I have some family I'm not proud of.

Convenient excuse about the friend, doesn't matter who owns the bike, if it was on site and it was possible for her to ride it then she's busted.

[velotrack]

Well, you can't choose your family so it's a little rough to automatically lump her in. I have some family I'm not proud of.

I don't support her, but this.

I think it's incredibly unfair to lump her family into her situation, no matter how much "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" applies.

[Steve in SLO]

Couldn't they just measure the contact points between her bike and her friends bike and figure out if she would have known? Seems easy enough.

[CampyorBust]

I don't support her, but this.

I think it's incredibly unfair to lump her family into her situation, no matter how much "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" applies.

+1 Agreed, once a journo gets hold of something juicy its very hard to remain objective. Then again bird thieves, golly only thing worse is bike thieves. Full disclosure I am partial to birds saved a two this year and I don't eat them.

[Black Dog]

Couldn't they just measure the contact points between her bike and her friends bike and figure out if she would have known? Seems easy enough.

Yea they could, but then we will have the "contact points" defence in the future. I think we all know why that bike was there. The direct and circumstantial evidence is very compelling. The other guys bike thing is BS. If he is as close to the family as they say and he rides and scouts courses with them, they should have known that he had a motor in his bike and would have made sure that bike never got near the pits. She is from a cycling family and they are no doubt involved in her racing, they are also convicted dopers and bird burglars! If she is innocent and her apple has rolled far from the tree it would be remarkable.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

I think engaging her defense is fighting on the wrong soil. The rule is one of strict liability - if the bike is in the pits, you're done. It doesn't matter how it got there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chiasticon]

a few thoughts:
1) people wondering about her mechanic's liability... given that this is a cycling family and they're belgian, more than likely her mechanic is her father or someone else in the family. hell, van der poel's father is the wrench for him and his brother. bart wellens father was his wrench through his whole career. very common in pro euro cross.

2) as far as this friend doing course recon with them... I was under the understanding that it's very difficult to get permission to ride the course unless you're someone who will be racing on it. these courses are legit dangerous, they're not just gonna allow a guy off the street to ride them. HUGE liability. that said, maybe being in with a racer got this friend in (though as a U23 I doubt she has a ton of "pull" with the officials). still it sounds fishy to me.

3) this family and birds... didn't someone in the other thread mention that the "friend" also has business with training pigeons or some craziness? what the hell is going on!?!

[djg21]

+1 Agreed, once a journo gets hold of something juicy its very hard to remain objective. Then again bird thieves, golly only thing worse is bike thieves. Full disclosure I am partial to birds saved a two this year and I don't eat them.

Well, you can't choose your family so it's a little rough to automatically lump her in. I have some family I'm not proud of.

Convenient excuse about the friend, doesn't matter who owns the bike, if it was on site and it was possible for her to ride it then she's busted.

But she did choose her family, at least to accompany her and be present in the mechanics' pit. The father, the brother, and the brother's "friend" with the motorized bicycle all were present. I don't understand why the brother was there if he had been suspended for EPO use. They all should receive lifetime bans.

Maybe Van de Driessche herself is only 19 and arguably naive (giving the benefit of the doubt). But you'd think someone from her team management or national federation would have known better and intervened. No sympathy here.

[batman1425]

If he is as close to the family as they say and he rides and scouts courses with them they they should have known that he had a motor in his bike and would have made sure that bike never got near the pits.

My understanding is that if something like that is at the venue at all during or the time surrounding the race is sufficient for punishment. I.E. - bike was socked away in the team tent/truck.

[jmoore]

Who cares if she rode it or not. If she was in possession of a bike with a motor in it, esp. at a World Championships, then she needs a lifetime ban. So does the mechanic and team DS.


That's like saying "I know there was a 55 gallon drum of EPO on the team bus, but I have never partaken"

[bobswire]

Actually is was my bike that got detoured by FedEx, to make a long story short please send my bike back to me.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yea they could, but then we will have the "contact points" defence in the future. I think we all know why that bike was there. The direct and circumstantial evidence is very compelling. The other guys bike thing is BS. If he is as close to the family as they say and he rides and scouts courses with them they they should have known that he had a motor in his bike and would have made sure that bike never got near the pits. She is from a cycling family and they are no doubt involved in her racing, they are also convicted dopers and bird burglars! If she is innocent and her apple has rolled far from the tree it would be remarkable.

http://www.a2lc.com/Portals/16856/images/if-the-glove-does-not-fit-oj-simpson-jury-consultants.jpg

[bikingshearer]

Stolen Parakeets!! You couldn't make this stuff up.

The guys of Monty Python could have. :D

As for how the "wrong" bike got there, call me a cynic, but it smells to me like it was deliberate. Have one bike with no motor available in case officials say "pull the bottom bracket." Have a second, identical bike that just happened top have been "sold" to a friend, have that friend ride the course and then just happen to lean said identical bike where the mechanics will see it and that just happens to have a motor in it and that just happens to be so identical that Femke doesn't feel anything at all strange about it doesn't notice the button to engage and disengage the motor.

For her to be innocent, that is an amazing collection of coincidences and otherwise unusual happenings. I suppose it is possible the same way that there could conceivably be another person with OJ's exact DNA who actually bled at Nicole Simpson's place, but the odds are stupendously long against either of those scenarios.

Ban her. Life sounds right, but 40 or 50 years would do.

[Waldo]

This is getting better and better - the parakeet story is priceless. What will be next b

Jeff

Well, what's mom been up to.....?

[Waldo]

I don't support her, but this.

I think it's incredibly unfair to lump her family into her situation, no matter how much "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" applies.

I would argue that the family fosters a culture of cheating and she simply followed family's SOPs.