There will soon be big revelations regarding mechanical doping. At least that is what Istvan Varjas claims in Le Monde. The Hungarian engineer, who is seen as the mastermind behind mechanical doping, says that the result of a major investigation will be revealed on television in early January.

It is not known what the investigation is about. It is only known that it will be about "technical fraud" (as the UCI officially calls it) in the higher ranks of cycling. Le Monde suggests that the investigation may have as much impact as the Festina affair in the Tour de France in 1998.

In the interview with Le Monde, Varjas reveals that doping doctor Michele Ferrari visited him three years ago to learn more about mechanical doping. Ferrari regarded the developments in mechanical doping as a threat to his own practice with physical doping.

So far only the Belgian cyclo-cross rider Femke van den Driessche has been caught with a motor in her bike. The UCI suspended her for six years.