It’s a sad truth for many professional cycling fans that outsider knowledge of the sport mostly revolves around its cheating scandals. Ever since popular professional cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour De France titles for doping, the public opinion of professional cycling (especially in America) has been largely one of disbelief in a system that can never seem to root out cheating. Unfortunately, even though COVID-19 has currently turned cycling into more of an eSport, cheating is still prevalent, though in a different way.
The most modern cheating method in professional cycling is blood doping. Blood doping involves taking blood from athletes (often in rest periods of a race lasting several days) and replacing that blood with healthier, oxygen rich blood. Blood doping can also simply be artificially increasing an athlete’s red blood cell count to enhance aerobic capacity. But with COVID-19 changing everything from cycling habits to what films get made, another type of cheating has emerged called “digital doping.” Professional cyclists are using this method to cheat in the virtual cycling game Zwift, and it has resulted in two athletes incurring six month bans from competitive events.
Digital doping in cycling can involve hacking, a common method of cheating in games, but it also can be as simple as deleting or altering performance files. Cyclists competing in virtual races on Zwift have their physical power outputs tracked, typically measured in watts per kilogram. These power outputs can then be compared against a rider’s average output or their race performance to detect cheating. A rider’s power output files must be downloaded and examined by the Zwift Performance Verification Board after races. The Zwift Board has recently found discrepancies in the data of two cyclists, Antonina Reznikov and Selma Trommer.
In both cases the Zwift Board found that race files had been edited in some way. Both Reznikov and Trommer initially denied the files had been tampered with but later admitted their race files were edited. Reznikov admitted to changing the power data of her file but later said she instead deleted her warm-up data and that made it look like her power levels were off. Trommer insists that her files were edited accidentally and does not admit any personal fault. Unlike bans on video game streamers that keep them from making content via Twitch or YouTube, Reznikov and Trommer can still use the Zwift cycling app for training and personal use.
Digital doping only adds to professional cycling’s tarnished reputation. In any sport, mass cheating causes fan distrust and can lead to high-profile competitors leaving their sport. Professional cycling is highly strategic, historic, and can provide incredible entertainment, but its reputation still has a mountain to climb before wide audiences will take it seriously.
Sources: CyclingNews, CyclingWeekly
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