Tadej Pogačar is cruising to his fifth overall victory at the Tour de France, but the narrative has moved beyond his domination and to the series of nighttime anti-doping controls that he and multiple other riders have been subjected to while at the race.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Pogačar was woken up at 5am by a doping control officer (DCO), while his rival Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike provided an anti-doping sample at 2am. Later on Sunday, Vingegaard crashed out of the race with a broken collarbone — prompting speculation among his rivals that his disturbed sleep was a factor.

The Athletic has been able to verify that riders from at least three other teams at the race have also been drug tested in the middle of the night during the race. The Athletic cannot identify the riders nor their employers, unless they or their teams waive the anonymity they are given to ensure blind testing of samples. Matej Mohorič of Bahrain-Victorious has confirmed that he too was tested at 5am. Results of the tests have not yet been made public, and only would be in the event of a positive test.

Unannounced tests in the middle of the night at the Tour have never been used before — but they have been possible since 2016.

To test an athlete for banned substances between the hours of 11pm and 6am, a request from an anti-doping agency — such as the International Testing Agency (ITA) who oversees cycling’s anti-doping program — has to be authorised by a local judge.

This article was published by The Athletic in July 2026. To read the full article click here.