As first reported by L'Equipe, the International Testing Agency (ITA) received approval by a French judge to conduct nighttime anti-doping controls on both Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard ahead of Sunday's stage 15 of the Tour de France, and the judge provided that approval over "serious and consistent suspicions" of doping. The ITA relies on that standard to justify the unusual decision to test in an overnight window.
Vingegaard was woken up for testing at 2 am on Sunday morning, while Pogačar underwent testing at 5 am. Vingegaard then crashed out of the Tour later that day, and various members of the peloton questioned the decision to subject riders to tests at such unusual hours.
Jonny Long
What's more, Pogačar and Vingegaard are apparently not the only riders to have undergone overnight testing so far at this Tour de France. According to Cycling Weekly, riders on at least two other teams have been tested at 5 am, with several more teams – none of which was named in the report – experiencing overnight testing at some point during the race.
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