On the eve of the toughest summit finish of the Tour de France so far, the race’s top two riders, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, were treated to a night of interrupted sleep – after anti-doping authorities knocked on their hotel room doors in the middle of the night to collect some samples.
On Sunday, Le Parisien reported that officials from the International Testing Agency (ITA) woke Vingegaard at 2am and Pogačar at 5am, ahead of today’s stage to Plateau de Solaison.
Cycling’s anti-doping authorities have been permitted to conduct random tests around the clock since 2016, though reports suggest that Pogačar and Vingegaard were the only riders subject to these controls last night. The ITA is yet to comment on the matter.
Nevertheless, the testers’ early morning wake-up call that was later confirmed by both riders and their teams, with current yellow jersey Pogačar telling Eurosport before today’s stage that the impromptu visit left him missing a few hours’ sleep.
“I got four hours of sleep today,” the four-time Tour winner said. “They were here at 5am in the morning. I always sleep late, it was a big shock for me to get four hours of sleep.
“I had a cool, long morning because I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I was chilling, listening to some old Eminem hits, and making coffees. So I’m overcaffeinated and ready to start the day. It was definitely not nice to be woken up in the middle of sweet dreams.”
(Image Credit: A.S.O., Thomas Maheux)“I guess the ITA didn’t allow me to sleep much,” added Vingegaard, who is sitting in second place overall heading into the Tour’s final week.
“I was sleeping very well but then somebody knocked on my door at 2am which was a surprise to me.
“Of course it’s good that they test, but when it’s affecting performance and your sleep, I don’t think it’s so good. Hopefully, I’m not the only one. It has to be equal for everybody I think. It’s not the nicest at 2am.
“I think it took me about 40 minutes before I was back in my room, so it was not the best night. I still feel okay, but just not the best night. I cannot change it, but that’s part of it I guess.”
As the current leader of the Tour, Pogačar would also have been subject earlier on Saturday to the daily post-stage anti-doping controls for stage winners and the yellow jersey.
Reflecting on that process, the UAE Team Emirates leader said: “There’s a chaperone following you, and then you go to control, you do that. They also come randomly in the mornings through the Tour, and today they chose nighttime.
“I feel sorry for the guys that are doing the control, I can imagine that some riders get upset and angry with them, but it’s not their fault. It’s the bosses. The guys doing the control are just doing their jobs.”
Despite Pogačar’s conciliatory stance, the decision to interrupt the leading pair’s night sleep was widely criticised by their teammates and rivals.
“I was asked to keep my opinion to myself, but this shows a complete lack of respect for the riders,” Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson told Het Laatste Nieuws.
“We put a huge amount of effort into recovery. It is incredibly important, particularly between two of the hardest mountain stages of this Tour. Then you are woken at 2am. That genuinely makes me angry.”
“Tadej dealt with it well, but I find it almost inhumane and completely absurd,” UAE’s Florian Vermeersch added.
“As far as I know, it is also the first time he has been woken this early for a control. People will say we are complaining, but this is ridiculous.
“Maybe it will make him even more motivated. Who knows? Perhaps it gives him energy.”
Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel – currently in third, behind Pogačar and Vingegaard on GC – couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the news.
“At 2am?” the Belgian asked Sporza. “That cannot be right. No, surely that is not allowed.”
Asked how he would react if an anti-doping official knocked on his door in the middle of the night, a blunt Evenepoel responded: “I would not say anything. I would just keep sleeping.”
However, Visma manager Richard Plugge admitted that the late night tests are within the rules, arguing that they are essential to help ensure the sport is as clean as possible.
“We know this is possible, these are the rules,” Plugge told Wielerflits. “From one minute before the start of the Tour until the finish in Paris, checks can take place 24 hours a day.
“That is stated in the rules, so you know this can happen. The fact that it is happening is also a good sign. I keep saying it: because in this sport we do everything we can – much more than in many other sports – to ensure that cycling remains fair.”
2 thoughts on “Tour de France drug testers branded “inhumane” for waking Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard at 5am and 2am – as Remco Evenepoel says he “would have carried on sleeping””
The only valid reason to wake a rider up at 2am is the suspicion of possible microdosing. No other doping-related activity would have left a trace in the body at night but not in the morning.
As much as I am for absolute transparency and integrity in sport, and I do believe riders should accept the inconvenience of testing as part of their job, there is no evidence of efficacy of microdosing. Therefore the test at 2am was just pointless and stupid.
Poor, poor job, ITA.
@tomlew a contributory factor to Vingegaard’s crash, perhaps?