UAE Team Emirates is once again at the center of controversy during the Giro d’Italia 2026. After Igor Arrieta’s incredible Stage 5 victory, social media exploded when former Festina coach Antoine Vayer suggested there was something suspicious about the way the rear wheel on Arrieta’s bike kept spinning after his crash.
Was it technological cheating or simply modern WorldTour equipment?
In this video we break down the entire controversy, the accusations against UAE, the technical explanation from Portuguese biomechanical expert Murilo Medeiros and why Tadej Pogacar has also been repeatedly targeted by bizarre hidden motor conspiracy theories in recent years.
Are these fair questions because of cycling’s history, or completely baseless attacks against the most dominant team in the peloton?
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42 Comments
Absolute nonsense. Imagine if they were ever caught doing that. That would mean jail time.
Pogacer uses a motor and every PED he can get his hands on.
Yeah don't you know Colnago has a discreet contract with Ducati????
I’m calling BS!
That is the dumbest accusation.
His chain came off. The bike was on its side. I've had it happen to me, I don't have a motor.
You are sick, visit your doctor asap
motors are real they exist…..after each stage UCI needs to 8nspect the BB and remove the crank and take a look down the seat tube with cameras….simple and easy….anyone proyests inspections have something to hide
Real concern. The sport has become a joke. The same arguments that Lance used are being used again. This time however it is mechanical doping not bloodbdoping
Haters going to hate.
If tadeg is cheating I will never watch pro cycling again ,saying that you must remember tadeg has been a superstar from very young and in my opinion with a lifetime of experience in cycle racing and human experience i would humbly say he is totally a clean athlete and hope these people who conspire against him should prove what they refer to ,keep winning tadeg everybody loves you including me cheers andrea pierre arnot
Lol my cheap bearings are very close to the pricey ceramic ones. There is so little difference. Dont use bearings as an excuse for anything.
The funny thing is when eulalio dropped his back wheel was also kept on spinning 😂😂😂 maybe the real problem is some loose bolt on some of the peoples heads 😅😅😅
The wheel was spinning after a downhill crash on wet roads. Who would use a motor to go downhill in the wet around a bend?!?!
Pox
Maybe mention the fact that bikes are checked by the UCI for years already for motors, they are impossible to conceal against devices that sense motors!!!
Real concern😮
Isnt that easy after finish judges taking winners bike for checking with scanning tool, its very easy and costs nothing. Its not like taking samples for doping and then waiting for results after many days.
I span the cranks on my TCR this morning with the rear wheel lifted off the ground. After i let go of the crank arm the wheel kept on spinning. I was devastated at the realisation that I’m a cheat
Some kind of doping going on, it’s cycling with a long tradition of cheating.
Ceramic barings make virtually no difference.
I'm beginning to think that this channel was just designed to talk shit about racing.
Vayer is an absolute nut job and has been for years 🤪
Saw it. "Ceramic bearings"? Hahahaha.
You've got to have been living under a rock to know none of this is as it seems.
Tour officials should have rechecked that bike immediately after that stage.
Really?
Stop this stupid shit with "motor doping"! It's cheating, and use of the term doping brings up terrible times of the past. It's just so detrimental to cycling.
Imagine using a motor and stil getting beaten in most of the stages 😂. Since when do lying criminals from France tell the truth
Totally made up story
People have become so stup.d that they think they're watching AI in a live sporting event, or worse, mechanical "doping" in one of the most controlled and investigated sports in the world.
Maybe it's time to just turn of the internet and go live in the fkn 80s again.
What a crock of shit…
Bullshit
Pure cycling crap
No conspiracy. There was a demonstration a few years ago, as I recall at the TDF, of exactly how that happens. There was a similar accusation after a crash so during the NBC commentary of the next stage they aired the demonstration.
Festina the doped to the brim pro cycling team of yesteryear
Twaddle
Complete Horse Shit. I would take any word from a Festina coach with the smallest grain of salt.
Why making nonsense story
You don't see they are trying hard to be one of the most prestige rider
They had their training and the team itself spent effort and financial to compete.
Speculation/ rumors that they cannot accept or believe the endurance of the riders.
Now in Giro 2026 only 5 riders left to continue.
it all started with fabian cancellara who invented the electric bike to win flanders etc…now uae is using this as well
A 15 lb ebike would be very nice.
Clickbait