Judge signed off on Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard’s nighttime doping tests due to “serious suspicions” before Tour de France, according to reports

Key Points:

• Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard underwent nocturnal doping tests at the Tour de France, authorized by a Paris judge before the race, marking the first use of this legal procedure since its 2015 introduction in French law.
• Multiple riders from at least two other unnamed teams were also tested in the early hours, although some teams report never having been tested overnight between 11pm and 6am.
• Vingegaard’s crash and subsequent Tour abandonment led Pogačar to suggest that the 2am doping test disrupted his sleep, potentially causing a lapse in concentration.
• UCI rules allow doping tests outside normal hours only under serious suspicion, with judicial approval required to ensure proportionality and prevent evidence loss, a measure designed to detect sophisticated doping methods like micro-dosing.
• The nighttime testing approach has faced criticism from riders and the CPA union for being intrusive and harmful to recovery, with calls to prioritize investment in scientific research over increasing disruptive unannounced tests.