Tadej Pogacar, who led the Tour de France entering Stage 15 on Sunday, and second-place rider Jonas Vingegaard were woken up in the middle of the night by drug testers for the International Testing Agency.
Vingegaard, part of Team Visma-Lease a Bike, was woken up at 2 a.m. local time, followed three hours later by Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates ahead of Sunday’s crucial mountain stage to Plateau de Solaison.
“I couldn’t get back to sleep,” said Pogacar, who said he went to bed at 1 a.m. and had only four hours of sleep. “I spent the time (in the morning) listening to old Eminem songs and making coffee. I feel sorry for the guys who have to wake us up. They are just doing their job.”
The Tour has allowed unannounced tests to be conducted for the past 10 years.
“I guess the ITA didn’t allow me to sleep much,” Vingegaard told TNT Sports. “I was sleeping very well but then somebody knocked on my door at 2 a.m. Big surprise to me but of course I mean it’s good that they test, but when it’s affecting performance and your sleep I don’t think it’s so good.
“Hopefully also in the end I’m not the only one because it has to be equal for everybody. It’s not the nicest at two o’clock. It took about 40 minutes before I was back in my room. It was not the best night. Still feel OK but just not the best night.”
Matteo Jorgenson, a teammate of Vingegaard, called it “a complete lack of respect for the riders.”
“I was asked to keep my opinion on this to myself,” the American said. “But this is a complete lack of respect for the riders. 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 a.m. That makes me really furious.”
Entering Sunday, Pogacar of Slovenia led the competition by four minutes and 30 seconds over Demnark’s Vingegaard, the largest Tour gap entering the final week since Vincenzo Nibali won in 2014.
–Field Level Media
