Two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard abandoned the Tour de France on Sunday after crashing during stage 15, just hours after being awakened for a mandatory anti-doping control at 2 a.
m.
The Danish cyclist, who also won the Giro d'Italia this year, was forced into a race ambulance with his right arm in a sling following a fall near a roundabout in Bonneville.
The International Testing Agency (ITA) conducted unexpected nocturnal doping tests on both Vingegaard and race leader Tadej Pogacar prior to the mountain stage in the Savoyarde Alps.
Before starting the stage, Vingegaard expressed dissatisfaction with the timing of the middle-of-the-night drug test and its impact on his rest.
"I was sleeping very well, but somebody knocked on my door at 2am," said Vingegaard.
"It's good that they test, but when it's affecting performance and your sleep, I don't think it's so good."
The exact cause of the crash remains uncertain, though the cyclist was riding in the slipstream of his Visma-Lease-a-Bike teammates when the incident occurred.
Remco Evenepoel secured the stage victory by outsprinting Pogacar and his UAE Emirates XRG teammate Isaac del Toro on the final steep climb.
Vingegaard was taken to the Tour's mobile hospital.
The timing of the anti-doping test triggered significant frustration among fellow competitors regarding rider recovery protocols.
"I was asked to keep my opinion on this to myself, but this is a complete lack of respect for the riders," said Visma-Lease-a-Bike rider Matteo Jorgenson.
"We are focusing heavily on recovery. That is hugely important, especially between two of the toughest mountain stages in this Tour.
And then you get woken up at 2am. That makes me really furious."
Stage winner and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel also questioned the validity of conducting official anti-doping procedures at that specific hour.
"They told me that it supposedly happened at two o'clock in the morning.
That seems very strange to me, because that is not allowed according to the rules," said Evenepoel.
Team management acknowledged the regulatory authority of the testing body while maintaining that the nocturnal disruption was problematic for the athletes.
"It is good that our sport is, and remains, so on top of the anti-doping fight," said Visma-Lease-a-Bike team manager Richard Plugge.
"Two o'clock in the night is not ideal, although it doesn't matter what time of the night it is.
It remains not ideal. The ITA will have their reasons for this.
We have to follow suit."
Behind the lead trio, chasing cyclists Paul Seixas and Florian Lipowitz both lost nearly a minute in the overall standings during the standard racing action.
