Tour de France rivals Pogacar, Vingegaard given night-time doping controls / Photo: Bernard PAPON - POOL/AFP
Tour de France rivals Pogacar, Vingegaard given night-time doping controls
Tour de France leader Tadej Pogacar and his main rival Jonas Vingegaard both confirmed on Sunday that they were visited in the middle of the night by anti-doping controllers, just hours before a crucial mountain stage.
French newspaper Le Parisien had said that both four-time winner Pogacar and two-time former champion Vingegaard, were targeted by International Testing Agency (ITA) officials at their hotels during the night.
"I got four hours of sleep today. Not (at) 2:00 am in the morning, because they were (there at) 5:00 in the morning," he said before the start of Sunday's 15th stage from Champagnole in the Jura to Plateau de Solaison in the Alps when asked about the report.
"But I always go to sleep late. It was a big shock for me also to get four hours of sleep today.
"But I had a very cool long morning. I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I was chilling, listening to some old Eminem hits, and making coffees, so I over-caffeinated.
"I was ready to start the day, but it was definitely not nice to wake up in the middle of sweet dreams."
Pogacar has spent more than 10 days in the leader's yellow jersey at the Tour, meaning that he has been tested at the end of each of those stages, including on Saturday.
"And also, they come randomly in the mornings through the Tour," he added.
"And today they chose nighttime."
Vingegaard's control came a few hours before Pogacar's, but likewise woke him from his sleep.
"I guess the ITA didn't allow me to sleep very much. I was sleeping very well but then somebody knocked on my door at 2:00 am," Vingegaard told reporters.
"(It was) a big surprise to me. Of course, it's good that they test but when it's affecting performance or your sleep, I don't think it's good."
Vingegaard was partially just concerned that he had not been the only rider targeted.
"It has to be equal for everybody, but it's not the nicest at two o'clock," he added.
"It took me about 40 minutes before I was back in my room.
"I still feel OK but it was not the best night. I cannot change it."
- 'Complete lack of respect' -
Richard Plugge, the managing director of Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team, said that other teams had also been targeted in the night, without giving details.
"It is good that our sport is, and remains, so on top of the anti-doping fight," Plugge told Dutch cycling news platform Wielerflits, admitting that it was "unpleasant" to face such night-time controls.
The night-time doping control came just hours before the start of a 183.9km stage with barely a metre of flat roads including four categorised climbs.
The stage finishes on the brutally tough 11km-long Plateau de Solaison, which has an average gradient of nine percent.
Slovenian Pogacar currently leads Vingegaard in the overall standings by four and a half minutes, while another five riders are within 1min 20sec of the Dane.
While the two Tour favourites seemed to take it in their stride, Vingegaard's American team-mate Matteo Jorgenson was livid.
"I was asked to keep my opinion on this to myself, but this is a complete lack of respect for the riders," he told reporters.
"We are focusing heavily on recovery. That is hugely important, especially between two of the toughest mountain stages in this Tour.
"And then you get woken up at 2:00 am. That makes me really furious."
A.Famiglietti--LDdC
