Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar were subjected to early-morning doping controls on July 19, with testers waking Vingegaard at 2 a.m. and Pogacar at 5 a.m. Vingegaard's test lasted approximately 40 minutes. Both riders expressed frustration over the timing of the visits.
Remco Evenepoel called the night-time controls scandalous, though cycling analyst Lars Bak noted such checks are not new to the sport. Under French sports code, night-time tests are permitted only in cases of serious and corroborating suspicion, while UCI rules generally require testing between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. unless justified.
No such night visits were conducted during last year's Tour, when the International Testing Agency collected over 600 samples. Night-time testing has been permitted since 2016.