CYCLING: Vaughters says night controls could have stopped blood-doping era

Former professional cyclist and Cannondale-EF team boss Jonathan Vaughters defended pre-dawn doping tests at the Tour de France, saying the practice could have exposed cycling’s blood-doping era decades earlier if it had been implemented at the time.

The issue emerged after race leader Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard were among riders woken in the early hours of Sunday for unannounced doping checks before the 15th stage. Several riders criticized the timing, saying the disruption affected their sleep and recovery during the demanding race.

Vaughters, who competed professionally in the late 1990s and early 2000s, supported the testing method, saying it is an effective way to detect micro-dosing of performance-enhancing substances.

“2 a.m. testing is one of the very effective ways to prevent peptide (EPO, hGH) and testosterone micro-dosing,” Vaughters wrote on social media.

“If UCI had tested us in 2001 at 2 a.m.? We’d all have been suspended and saved the sport 25 years of drama.”

Vaughters’ comments drew attention because of his own past involvement in cycling’s doping controversy. He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong on the U.S. Postal Service team and later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs, including EPO, during his career.

He also testified during the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in 2012 after USADA concluded that he led one of the most sophisticated doping programs in sports history.

Vaughters later founded the team now known as Cannondale-EF, which has promoted clean racing in professional cycling.

Riders Raise Concerns Over Timing

The debate over overnight testing intensified after several riders expressed concerns about the impact on recovery.

Vingegaard, who was tested at 2 a.m., said the procedure cost him about 40 minutes of sleep before a mountain stage where he later crashed and suffered a broken collarbone. Pogacar, who was tested at 5 a.m., said he managed only four hours of sleep.

Stage winner Remco Evenepoel described the practice as “inhuman,” while the International Testing Agency (ITA), which oversees doping controls for the International Cycling Union (UCI), acknowledged that night-time testing can affect riders’ rest.

The agency said effective anti-doping measures may require testing outside regular hours in “limited and justified circumstances,” especially to detect substances that can leave the body within a short period.

Micro-dosing of substances such as EPO and human growth hormone has remained a major concern for anti-doping authorities, as these substances can be difficult to detect if athletes know when testing is likely to occur.

The Professional Cyclists’ Association also raised concerns about overnight testing, saying that sleep and recovery are essential for riders’ performance, health and safety.

“The quality of sleep and recovery is essential not only for performance but also for the health and safety of the riders,” the association said in a statement.

The group urged anti-doping authorities to continue improving scientific research and detection methods while ensuring that testing procedures do not compromise athletes’ well-being during major competitions.

-Reporting by Angelica Medina in Guadalajara, additional reporting by Aadi Nair in Mumbai; Editing by Stephen Coates and Clarence Fernandez/Reuters