SerpApi.Org
Lance Armstrong has accused Tour de France anti-doping officials of a “human rights issue” after Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the race following a late-night test.
Vingegaard crashed heavily on Stage 15 and withdrew from the Tour having claimed he was awoken at 2am by the International Testing Agency (ITA) before the stage. He sustained a broken collarbone in the incident after misjudging a corner on the route to Plateau de Solaison, abandoning the race for the first time.
Riders and experts speculated afterwards that the crash could have been caused by the early hours interruption. Tadej Pogacar, Vingegaard’s great rival and runaway race leader, was woken up at 5am for tests approved by a judge in Paris that fell outside the usual ITA testing hours.
The Tour de France race leader is tested after every stage and can be subjected to them at other times, while other riders can also be targeted for random tests during the race.
Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles in 2012 after an investigation into doping allegations, and has since admitted to using performance enhancing drugs during his career.
The 54-year-old believes, though, that Vingegaard and Pogacar were mistreated by officials after the late-night tests.
“I am told that Jonas had anti-doping control at 2am, and Tadej had it at 5am. If you are going to choose one, you take the 5am,” Armstrong argued on The Move, a podcast he co-hosts.
“They showed up to his room at 2am, knocked on the door and woke him up in the middle of the Tour de France. This is the hardest sporting event in the world. Sleep is essential.
“Now obviously nobody here is going to be proponent of not having controls. But this isn’t a sporting issue now; 2am is a human rights issue. I’m speechless. What are we doing? Why are we agreeing to that?
“Why would anybody agree to do that? That is ridiculous. We talked about what a great month of sport this has been globally. What would have happened if you went and knocked on [Lionel] Messi’s door at 2am? What would have happened if you went and knocked on [Jannik] Sinner’s door at 2am? What would Scottie Scheffler do if you knocked on his door at 2am? Serena Williams’ door at 2am? It just makes no sense.”
Riders are not usually tested between 11pm and 6am. Vingegaard estimated that the visit cost him 40 minutes of sleep, though sought not to blame it fully for his crash.
Fellow competitors including Remco Evenepoel have questioned the tests, though Cannondale-EF team boss Jonathan Vaughters believes late night testing could have exposed the sport’s blood-doping era sooner.
Vaughters is a former teammate of Armstrong’s and admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, including EPO, during his career.
“2 am testing is one of the very effective ways to prevent peptide (EPO, hGH) and testosterone micro dosing," Vaughters wrote on social media.
"If UCI had tested us in 2001 at 2 am? We'd all have been suspended and saved the sport 25 years of drama."
Pogacar, seeking a fifth yellow jersey, leads the Tour by five minutes from Evenepoel as the race resumes with a 26.1km individual time trial from Evian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains.
The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.
