Zolder, Belgium: Cycling has been forced to confront a new controversy after the sport's head confirmed the first top-level case of "technological fraud" with a hidden motor being found on a Belgian cyclist's bike.

The motor was discovered inside the frame of the machine being used by teenager Femke Van den Driessche at the world cyclo-cross championship in Zolder, Belgium, Bryan Cookson, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), said.

"It's absolutely clear that there was technological fraud. There was a concealed motor. I don't think there are any secrets about that," Cookson told a news conference on Sunday.