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Remco Evenepoel criticised “inhuman” middle-of-the night doping tests at the Tour de France after winning stage 15.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Belgian’s comments came as Jonas Vingegaard was woken at 02:00 and race leader Tadej Pogacar at 05:00 local time for tests before Sunday’s stage – in which the Dane crashed and broke his collarbone.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel said the timing of the tests was “disrespectful” and added: “It’s something that actually we should not accept as riders.<\/p>\n
“It’s quite inhuman to wake us up in the middle of the night.”<\/p>\n
Vingegaard, 29, will have surgery on his injury and is out of the remainder of the Tour.<\/p>\n
Yellow jersey wearer Pogacar was awoken after the Dane at 05:00 to undergo doping controls and suggested the effects of Vingegaard’s disrupted sleep could have been a factor in his crash.<\/p>\n
“The Tour will not be the same without him,” said Pogacar. “It got me thinking, we had doping control they did [at] two in the morning [and] maybe this is also a reason.<\/p>\n
“One night [and] your sleep is ruined and you can be a little less concentrated on the descent.<\/p>\n
“I don’t blame that, but could be also a little bit connected. It’s really sad to see him leave.”<\/p>\n
The International Testing Agency, who carried out the tests, told BBC Sport: “The ITA is conscious that night-time testing may be disruptive to riders’ rest and recovery. Due consideration has therefore been given to minimise as much as possible the impact testing activities have on riders. <\/p>\n
“However, the ITA, on behalf of the UCI, has the responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of the cycling anti-doping program and the integrity of cycling races. <\/p>\n
“As such, effective testing must, in limited and justified circumstances, be capable to occur outside standard daytime hours.”<\/p>\n
Vingegaard – seen as the only real threat to defending champion and current race leader Pogacar – was tackling a tight right-hand bend off a roundabout when his front wheel slid out, causing him to land on his shoulder.<\/p>\n
The concertina effect caused three other riders to catapult over Vingegaard and on to spectators standing on the outside of the corner, with Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team-mate Isaac del Toro, of Mexico, landing on a woman with crutches who was seated.<\/p>\n
The two-time Tour de France champion will now have surgery “in the coming days due to the severity of the fracture”, according to a team statement.<\/p>\n
His team-mate, American Sepp Kuss, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Jai Hindley, of Australia, were also involved, but continued.<\/p>\n
Vingegaard winced in pain several times as he was put into an ambulance minutes after the crash.<\/p>\n
It is a devastating end for a rider who has come into this three-week race in his best form since a debilitating crash in 2024, in which he suffered lung injuries and several bone fractures, and compromised the form which enabled him to beat Pogacar to titles in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
Vingegaard showed real promise in the build-up to this Tour after dominant wins in last year’s Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour and the Giro d’Italia in May.<\/p>\n
But he had lost significant time to Pogacar on stage five’s climb up the Col du Tourmalet and Saturday’s gruelling stage up Le Markstein in the Vosges mountains.<\/p>\n
Slovenia’s Pogacar, 27, is aiming this year to become the joint-most successful rider in the Tour’s history with five wins, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n