The organizers of the 103 edition of the Tour de France will use thermal cameras to detect the presence of engines on bicycles, confirmed today the French Secretary of Sport, Thierry Braillard.
These high-tech cameras have been designed by the Atomic Energy Commissariat (CEA) at the request of the French Government.
"We want to preserve the soul of the Tour", today said race director, Christian Prudhomme, at a press conference in Paris in which was presented this new mechanism against technological fraud.
The CEA research director, Vincent Berger, explained that the camera assesses the different density of materials based on their thermal properties.
The device is portable and its operator may be on board a motorcycle or stand beside the road, they added in the presentation, which, according to the media, neither cost nor their funding detailed.
The first case of technological fraud occurred last January 30 in the sub-23 career World Cyclocross in Heusden-Zolder (Belgium).
Four months later, the Disciplinary Commission of the International Cycling Union (UCI) decided to impose a penalty of six years of suspension to the runner, the Belgian Femke Van den Driessche after being accused of using a bicycle rigged with a motor.
The cyclist, 19, who announced his retirement in March, said after the prosecution investigated the bike was not his, but a friend, but that ended in their hands after a mechanical error
This upcoming Tour de France will start on July 2 in Mont-Saint-Michel and mountain gives greater prominence, although tempered by two demanding time trials that return some balance to the test, ending the 24th of that month.