Stage 15 of the Tour de France was completed on Sunday, July 19th and the biggest story of the day was two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard crashing and having to withdraw from the race with a broken collarbone. Crashes happen all the time in professional cycling but many around the sport suspect that late night PED testing might have been a contributing factor in Jonas’ crash.
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, who is currently wearing the yellow jersey and the overwhelming favorite to win it all this week, were woken up in the middle of the night before Stage 15. Vingegaard received a knock on his door at 2 AM for ‘routine’ drug testing and Pogacar shortly thereafter.
Is Drug Testing In Cycling Becoming Dangerous? Tadej Pogacar Discusses Vingegaard’s Tour de France Crash
Drug testing the competitors at the Tour de France is routine. 4-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar talked about how he has an ‘escort’ who follows him after each stage until he’s tested. There are then random tests throughout. The athletes have no control over the timing and location and if the drug testers show up, regardless of the hour, they must submit a sample.
What has led to the current discussion surrounding Tour de France PED testing is the 2 AM knock on Jonas Vingegaard‘s door for testing. These athletes have to be able to sleep and recover. It is that simple. There have been countless studies proving sleep deprivation leads to an increase in accidents.
The athletes are already being tested from the moment they wake up until they go to sleep. But knocking on the door in the middle of the night, disrupting their sleep cycle and recovery, and in the case of both Jonas and Tadej they were unable to go back to sleep and proverbially running on empty for Stage 15… That never needed to happen. Here is what Tadej Pogacar had to say about it all:
The video starts with Tadej rubbing his eyes to start the interview out of exhaustion perfectly sums this up. Pogacar said the 2 AM doping control was “maybe a reason” that Jonas crashed. Because it’s not as if Vingegaard is a novice. He is a two-time TDF winner and arguably the second best cyclist on earth behind Pogacar, his rival.
Be the first to comment