Tour reporter
Before the first alpine stage, the absolute leader is Tour de FranceTadej Pogacar and runner-up Jonas Vingegaard He was woken up by doping controllers on the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Vingegaard confirmed at the start of the 15th stage Champagnolethat inspectors knocked on his hotel room door at 2 a.m. Pogacar woke up the inspectors. International Testing Agency (ITA) Therefore, at 5 o’clock in the morning, Pogačar reported that after that he did not sleep anymore. “It was unusual, but this man is just doing his job,” he said.
“The ITA didn’t let me sleep much,” Wingegaard told Eurosport. “Of course it’s good that they do tests, but if it affects your performance and sleep, then it’s not so good.” The two-time Tour winner from Denmark said the check cost him 40 minutes. “I feel good, but it wasn’t my best night.”
“Good” but “not perfect”
The leader of his Visma team alsoBicycle rental, Richard Plagg mentioned the controls on the Dutch cycling portal Bicycle flash “Okay,” but the timing is “not ideal.” Before the first Alpine stage, the regeneration of the two best riders of previous years was greatly impaired. “The ITA will have its own reasons for this. We have to stick to them,” Plugge said.
Since 2016, night doping tests in cycling have been allowed, usually from 23:00. and 6 a.m. Previously, athletes were not allowed to participate in testing during this period. Some substances, such as EPO, when administered in microdoses, can no longer be detected after a few hours. “It’s definitely good that our sport takes anti-doping so seriously,” Plugge said.
UCI: night checks only if there is special suspicion
However, monitoring at night is unusual. An addition to Article 5.2.2 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, which stipulates that professional cyclists will be tested at any time and place, states: “Unless a rider has established a sixty (60) minute testing window between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am or has otherwise agreed to be tested during that period, the UCI will not test the rider during that period unless there is a serious and specific reason. the driver is doping.”
Lipowitz’s team was not injured
German team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe Florian Lipowitz was not affected by the night control. Remco Evenepoel confirmed to the Belgian TV channel Sporza that no one knocked on his door. He doesn’t think it’s normal that his competitors were disturbed while they were sleeping. “This cannot be allowed.” Frenchman Paul Seixas was also not tested that night.