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Belgium professional cyclist Femke Van den Driessch has been accused of riding a bike that housed a secret motor inside its frame. The cyclist has denied knowing the bike had a motor, claiming she was using a friend's bike that was identical to hers.

(ABC/ via Associated Press)

A professional cyclist was caught riding a bicycle that used an illegal hidden motor during a race.

The hidden motor was discovered inside the frame of the bike on Sunday during the World Cyclo-cross championship race in Belgium.

"There was a concealed motor. I don't think there are any secrets about that," Bryan Cookson, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), told reporters Sunday. "We believe that it was indeed technological doping."

The "technological/mechanical doping," occurred when the motor was discovered inside the frame of the bike being used by 19-year-old Belgium teenager Femke Van den Driessche. The cyclist was forced to pull out of the race due to a mechanical problem, and checks conducted by the UCI with a radio-frequency-detecting tablet discovered a motor hidden in the bottom bracket of the bicycle.

A tearful Van den Driessche denied knowing her bike housed a secret motor.

"The bike was not mine," Van den Driessche said. "I would never cheat."

Van den Driessche claimed she simply picked up and rode the wrong bike.

"It wasn't my bike, it was my friend's and was identical to mine," Van den Driessche told Belgian TV channel Sporza. "I'm aware I have a big problem. (But) I have done nothing wrong."

The world of professional cycling has been consistently - and perhaps permanently - tarnished by major doping scandals. The sport has struggled to move past the scandals and now officials have another scandal on their hands.

-- Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold