Drug 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.

Drug 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 said 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."