Cycling teams spy on each other\u2019s tech all the time.<\/p>\n
Mechanics, bike fitters, and biomechanists zoom in on bike photos, scour patent applications, and likely offer underhand deals to find their rivals\u2019 fastest secrets.<\/p>\n
In the modern era, Tadej <\/u><\/span><\/span>Poga\u010dar\u2019s<\/u><\/span><\/span> equipment gets the most interest. And so it should \u2014 he is pushing for GOAT status, after all.<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s the exact saddle tilt, the milligram distribution of chain lube, or even the glue beneath his trademark \u201cHulk\u201d sticker \u2014 rivals want to know everything about the Pogi setup.<\/p>\n It turns out that team Quick-Step was offered a very direct approach to its technological sleuthing in 2024.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar casually parked his bike in their very own hotel room<\/em>, ripe for a microscopic inspection.<\/p>\n Writing this weekend in his column for Het Nieuwsblad<\/em>, former Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere shared a hilarious account of a snooping session involving four \u2014 yes, four<\/em> \u2014 mechanics, and Poga\u010dar\u2019s trustingly discarded Colnago.<\/p>\n Lefevere \u2014 who stepped down from his role as team CEO at the end of 2024 \u2014 wrote that Poga\u010dar had cycled to a hotel in Calpe where Quick-Step was staying on training camp.<\/p>\n Ur\u0161ka \u017digart, Poga\u010dar\u2019s partner, was also at the hotel with her former team, Liv-AlUla Jayco.<\/p>\n \u201cPoga\u010dar came to use the sauna with Ur\u0161ka. He had arrived by bike and asked our mechanics if he could leave it in our bike room,\u201d Lefevere wrote Saturday in Het Nieuwsblad<\/em>. \u201cNaturally, that was no problem.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as Pogi was out of the picture, our mechanics swarmed onto that bike. Four men in total. They weighed, measured, and analyzed everything,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing was disassembled, but judging by the stories I heard afterward, it came pretty close.\u201d<\/p>\n As Lefevere justified, it was too juicy an opportunity to turn down. Pogi is too trusting for his own good.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had probably never considered that he might be giving away any trade secrets,\u201d Lefevere wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cBut a mechanic with a bit of professional pride is going to leave the Tour winner\u2019s bike standing in the corner without having a look.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Lefevere said his mechanics were left disappointed. There\u00a0are no supersonic secrets hidden in Poga\u010dar\u2019s bike fit or build.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that our mechanics found striking was the saddle\u2019s setback,\u201d Lefevere wrote in HNB<\/em>. \u201cPoga\u010dar seemed to be sitting quite forward relative to the bottom bracket. That was the main conclusion reached within the span of a single sauna visit.<\/p>\n \u201cI am told that our staff also gave the bike a good wash,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n And the most important question for the Tin Foil Hat Brigade \u2013 are UCI officials missing anything during their pre-race checks for \u201cmechanical fraud?\u201d<\/p>\n Lefevere was definitive.<\/p>\n \u201cFor those wondering after all those pro victories: our inspection revealed that Poga\u010dar\u2019s bike did not contain a motor,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n Lefevere filed his column to Het Nieuwsblad<\/em> at an unfortunate time \u2014 the morning of stage 8 of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar suffered a shocking high-speed crash just a few hours later in a grand tour stage that had been written off as a snoozy day for sprinters.<\/p>\n The 60kph fall left Poga\u010dar with a fractured collarbone and vertebra, and a nasty concussion. It upended the narrative of the rest of this season.<\/p>\n UAE Emirates-XRG confirmed that Poga\u010dar received successful surgery on his collarbone Monday evening in Barcelona.<\/p>\n According to the local outlet El Peri\u00f3dico<\/em>, the procedure was led by Dr. Xavier Mir, a prestigious Catalan surgeon who\u2019s become famous for his work treating elite motorbike racers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operation required pins and plates to reconstruct the collarbone. The cyclist now needs a reasonable period to compete again,\u201d El Peri\u00f3dico<\/em> reported Monday.<\/p>\n The cycling world is now speculating whether Poga\u010dar will be fit to defend his world title on September 27 in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n Until then, here\u2019s hoping Pogi has his bike under lock and key while he\u2019s getting some rest. You never know who might be poking around at it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/pogacar-motor-secret-operation\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Z8B_9652-2-scaled.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated September 2, 2026 10:47AM Cycling teams spy on each other\u2019s tech all the time. Mechanics, bike fitters, and biomechanists zoom in on bike photos, scour patent applications, and likely offer underhand deals to find their rivals\u2019 fastest secrets. In the modern era, Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s equipment gets the most interest. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2125767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PSA to the pros: Never leave your bike with Quick-Step<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ZF07909.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Strange saddle setback \u2026 and no motor<\/h2>\n
Poga\u010dar fitted with collarbone plate after Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a crash<\/h2>\n
![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2292487115-1200x800.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")