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The nighttime doping tests on Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar are taking on more and more dimensions. Slowly but surely, it became clear that other riders, such as Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel, had also been pulled out of bed. The French judicial authority was also involved and granted special authorisation. It looks set to be a major operation, and Lance Armstrong is very keen to have his say.
The American had previously expressed his dissatisfaction with the nighttime doping tests. “They knocked on the door and woke him up in the middle of the Tour de France. 2 a.m. is a human rights issue. I’m speechless. I mean, we all agree that this isn’t right, don’t we? It goes without saying that no one here is against testing, but this isn’t a sports issue,” he said.
Lance Armstrong: 'I think they're idiots'
Armstrong made these statements when not much was known about the issue yet. It is now known that more and more teams were raided by doping inspectors. L'Équipe reported that the French court was also involved. They granted special permission for the nighttime tests, which was necessary to make them legal.
Armstrong is very firm on this. “It’s all very interesting,” he begins on his podcast THE MOVE. “Most people—including most of those involved in the sport—felt that a line had been crossed. Of course, this is cycling, so you also have people who say, ‘Fine, go ahead and wake them up anytime.’ I think they’re idiots if they think that. No one should agree with this—no one.”
The American, of course, has a long history of cycling and doping. He won the Tour de France seven times, but those victories were stripped from the record books after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs in 2013. Former teammates Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton made revelations about his practices. He managed to circumvent the rules every time. Now he is furious about the new measures taken by the anti-doping authorities.
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Armstrong: 'They'll be monitored and kept under close watch 24/7'
"If anti-doping is your fight, and this is your solution, and you realise it won't be enough: let me tell you what the next step is," he snaps. "It's not at 1 a.m., or 3 a.m." The next step is that the riders must be required to stay at a local rehabilitation center or in prison. “We’ll monitor them 24/7 and keep a close eye on them.” If everyone’s okay with that, fine.”
Those are some harsh words. George Hincapie and Sir Bradley Wiggins, the podcast’s co-hosts, remain silent for a long time. “That silence you hear—that’s exactly right,” says Armstrong. “That’s what we call being speechless. It’s absolutely crazy.”
Hincapie adds a moment later. He doesn’t see the point in how often cyclists are tested. “If you’re going to do that, then it has to happen in all sports. But that’s not happening. We have a long history in that area, but if it’s an independent organisation conducting the testing, why focus on just one sport? It’s clear that other sports wouldn’t accept this.”
