Zwift also announced its intervention in the data discrepancy in February. After issuing two bans earlier this month, Zwift has now sanctioned German rider Philipp Diegner.

As a rider on the Canyon Esport team, Diegner's data during the January ZRL race activated Zwift's increasingly sophisticated performance software.

After an investigation, Dr. George Gilbert, chair of Zwift's Esports Committee, announced to Diegner that he would be banned from competing on the virtual racing platform until July 24.

The event in which Digner's presence was revealed was the Zwift Racing League event on January 25, in which Digner finished in 39th place. After identifying a 2% discrepancy between the reference data he submitted and his race performance, Zwift acted accordingly.

Diegner denied tampering with the files he submitted to Zwift, but eventually he relented and revealed that he had been complicit in changing the power data. What made matters worse for Diegner was the deployment of Zwift's latest forensic data analysis, in which Zwift, using state-of-the-art software and methodology, examined past race results on Diegner's platform and found four more instances of questionable data. Three of these were races and the fourth was a Digner calibration test.

He may be allowed to continue using Zwift as a training tool, but during its own investigation, Canyon Esports officially distanced itself from Diegner prior to the Zwift ban.

"We are an incredibly tight-knit team, so losing a rider is like losing a limb," explained team manager Rhys Howell. 'Personally, all I can say is that it's heartbreaking. However, without a second's hesitation, I made the necessary decision to terminate the contract with the rider in question"

. [Our team firmly believes in transparency and clean sport more than any rider.

"We cannot deviate from that belief. Our sport depends on trust and teams like ours are built on it. We will be looking at ways to avoid this in the future, and I have repeatedly told our senior and developmental riders that they can and should turn to me first whenever they find themselves in a difficult situation. I hope this episode is just a small footnote in the exciting story of our team."