Why are cycling’s anti-doping tests being carried out at night?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Night-time tests at the Tour de France are rareByMatt WarwickBBC Sport Senior JournalistPublished28 minutes agoDrug testing at cycling’s biggest race, the Tour de France is in the spotlight, following a series of night-time anti-doping tests on the sport’s biggest names.Yellow jersey leader Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia and his main rival, Jonas Vingegaard, were tested in the middle of the night on Saturday.The Dane crashed out of the race on the following stage, with some believing his disrupted sleep could have been a factor. Five teams have reportedly had riders tested between 11pm and 6am, external during the 2026 edition of the race, this is outside the normal testing hours and usually a rare occurrence.
BBC Sport understands there have to be “exceptional circumstances” to justify the effort and that, in these cases, time might have been of the essence with a need for prompt testing.
Some in the paddock say the move is “effective” for a sport which needs to move away from a chequered doping past.
Jonathan Vaughters, now boss of EF-Education Easypost and a former team-mate of the disgraced Lance Armstrong, has spoken in support of the nocturnal tests.
He stated on X: “Two am testing is one of the very effective ways to prevent peptide (EPO, HGH) 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.”
Others – including the cyclists’ union the CPA – says waking riders in the middle of the night is potentially dangerous and unnecessary.
But the sport’s governing body, the UCI, (Union Cycliste Internationale) backed the night tests, stating the “fight against doping is an absolute priority”.
It added: “The UCI of course acknowledges that night-time testing can disrupt riders’ rest and recovery, and wishes to reiterate that carrying out such controls outside normal hours remains an exceptional measure, reserved for limited and justified circumstances.
“While fully aware of how onerous such a measure is for riders, the UCI nevertheless underscores that these controls serve an overriding interest: the fight against doping.”
