UCI President David Lappartient has defended night-time anti-doping tests during the men's Tour de France, saying that it was "a tool in this fight" against banned drugs, albeit one that should only be used occasionally.
Both of the most recent winners of the Tour de France, reigning champion Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, who took the title in 2022 and 2023, were amongst those who had night-time testing during the 2026 race: Vingegaard – who later crashed out on the same day as his test, injured – at 2am and Pogačar at 5am.
Reports later emerged that five other teams had also been tested at some point during the race before 5am, which is not typical under UCI and WADA rules, which restrict normal testing to a 6am to 11pm window.
