Jonathan Vaughters, a former doping offender and now a cycling manager, believes that night-time testing makes perfect sense. “Tests at 2 am are one of the most effective ways of preventing the microdosing of peptides (EPO, hGH) and testosterone,” wrote Lance Armstrong’s former team-mate on the X portal. “If the UCI had tested us at 2 am in 2001, we would all have been suspended and would have spared the sport 25 years of drama.”
Over the past few days, there had been heated debates about night-time doping checks during the Tour. Ahead of the gruelling mountain stage to the Plateau de Solaison, Vingegaard had been tested at 2.00 am, whilst Pogacar had a knock on his door at 5.00 am. During the following stage, Vingegaard crashed and was forced to withdraw with a broken collarbone. Pogacar speculated that there might have been a connection.
Vaughters had once admitted to doping and subsequently devoted himself wholeheartedly to the fight against doping in his role as an official. “It’s a shame that Tadej and Jonas have to pay the price for the mess we’ve made of things. That said, I’d gladly put up with a few sleepless nights in exchange for regaining some credibility. To be honest, I should apologise to both of them,” Vaughters went on to write.
Naesen reports on the background
Meanwhile, Belgian professional cyclist Oliver Naesen, who is not competing in the Tour de France, spoke on the podcast of the Belgian newspaper *Het laatste Nieuws* about the possible reasons behind the night-time tests. “There are doping substances that remain in the bloodstream for only about three hours. I’ve heard that they’re looking for growth hormones. That’s the first time I’ve heard of this – the hunt for growth hormones,” said Naesen.
“If there really are doping substances that remain in the blood for just three hours, that could be tempting. Anti-doping agencies must, of course, carry out tests at critical moments. And yet I am not aware of any doping taking place within the peloton,” added Naesen.
He went on to say that tests at 2.00 am were extreme: “I think there have to be limits to what you can expect an athlete to put up with. Doping tests are, of course, part of that, but I’ve never experienced tests in the middle of the night.”
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