Tour de France: Pogacar and Vingegaard Undergo Late-Night Doping Controls

The leaders of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, experienced an unusual and disruptive night as they underwent anti-doping controls in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to Le Parisien, the Slovenian, who won the previous day's stage, was woken around 5 a.m., while his Danish rival was tested closer to 2 a.m. These unannounced checks occurred between two critical weekend mountain stages.

The timing of these controls has drawn sharp criticism from the riders' teams. UAE Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike expressed their dismay, reportedly describing themselves as "stunned." While anti-doping regulations permit controls between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., the teams and riders questioned the necessity and impact of such checks during a demanding race.

Pogacar, the current yellow jersey holder, acknowledged the controls were legal but admitted they were not pleasant. "I was relaxing, listening to some old Eminem tunes. And I was making coffees. I arrive caffeinated this morning. It was really not pleasant to wake up in the middle of sweet dreams," he said, adding that he struggled to fall back asleep. He also noted that he had been tested daily as the race leader.

Vingegaard echoed these sentiments, stating, "It was a big shock for me to only get 4 hours of sleep." He confirmed that the testers knocked on his door at 2 a.m. and, after initially questioning the legality, realized it was permitted by the rules. "I think it's good to test us, but when it affects performance, I don't think it's good," the Dane stated. "I think testing at 2 a.m. in the middle of the night is pushing the limits a bit, but that's how it is and I can't change anything about it." He mentioned needing 40 minutes to fall back asleep, a significant disruption before a challenging mountain stage.