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Jonathan Vaughters, the manager of EF Education-EasyPost, has defended the controversial night-time anti-doping tests that have taken place at the Tour de France, describing them as “very effective” in detecting micro-dosing.
Defending champion Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, as well as Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard, were woken up in the early hours of Sunday morning by doping control officers (DCOs) and made to provide an anti-doping sample.
Only in exceptional circumstances, and when approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a judge, can an athlete be tested between 11pm and 6am. According to UCI rules, permission will only be granted by authorities if there is "serious and specific suspicion that the rider may be engaged in doping."
Cycling Weekly then revealed on Monday afternoon that at least two other teams in the race have had riders woken up before 6am, with some sources suggesting as many as eight teams may have been subject to night-time tests. The International Testing Agency (ITA), the body that is responsible for cycling’s anti-doping program, confirmed to CW that Pogačar and Vingegaard haven’t been the only cyclists tested outside of the “usual hours”.
In a further update, just before the start of stage 16, one team – who cannot be named for legal reasons unless they consent to being identified – informed CW that all of their riders were tested by DCOs at 10pm on Monday night. It is unusual for an entire team’s roster to be mass tested.
Vaughters admitted to taking EPO in his own racing career, including when riding at US Postal with Lance Armstrong. Since admitting to his past record, Vaughters has become one of sport’s staunchest anti-doping campaigners.
In a post on X on Monday night, the American said: “I don’t post here much. But I’ll roll this grenade down the aisle: 2am testing is one of the very effective ways to prevent peptides (EPO, hGH – Human Growth Hormone) and testosterone micro dosing.
“If [the] UCI had tested us in 2001 at 2am? We’d all have been suspended and saved the sport 25 years of drama.
“It’s unfortunate that Tadej and Jonas have to atone for the sh*t we did. However, I’d take some lost sleep for some gained credibility. I should apologize to both of them, honestly.”
Night-time testing is highly unusual at the Tour, but it is not without precedent. What is uncommon – and disturbing, depending on how these flurry of cases are perceived – is how many riders and teams appear to have been targeted at night during this year’s race. CW also knows of a number of 7am anti-doping controls.
Just ahead of the race, the ITA outlined its strategy for testing, stating that “around 600 in-competition samples” will be collected; that figure is on par with the number of tears conducted in recent Tours.
But the ITA added that the “final number [will be] determined based on the testing strategy, intelligence and investigations priorities and operational requirements.”
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