Femke Van den Driessche, born on August 27, 1996, is a Belgian former cyclo-cross cyclist, mountain biker, and road racing cyclist. She is most notably known as the first cyclist to receive an official ban for mechanical doping. This occurred after a concealed electric motor was discovered in one of her bikes during the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Zolder.
Prior to the scandal, Van den Driessche had a promising junior career, becoming the national cyclo-cross champion in 2011 and the national mountain bike champion in 2013. In 2015, she won the European Cyclo-cross Championships in the under-23 category and the Belgian national under-23 cyclo-cross title. However, these titles were later stripped from her following the mechanical doping incident. In April 2016, she was banned from cycling for six years, retroactive to October 11, 2015. She was also fined 20,000 Swiss francs and ordered to return all medals and prize money earned since October 2015.
Following the ban, Van den Driessche announced her retirement from cyclo-cross and did not contest the UCI's disciplinary hearing. As of early 2024, reports indicate that she is now a mother of two and works in her parents' business, having moved on from the past. The case remains the UCI's first and only confirmed instance of mechanical doping in professional cycling as of November 2025.
