The night before today's big stage was anything but restful for Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. The two leaders of the Tour de France general classification, respectively four-time and two-time winners of the race in the past, were both subjected to an anti-doping control during the night between Saturday and Sunday. As reported this morning by the French newspaper Le Parisien, which revealed what happened, the Dane second in the general classification was tested at 2 a.m., the yellow jersey at 5 a.m. Pogacar was unable to fall back asleep afterward, Vingegaard managed to do so in 40 minutes. Precious time stolen from rest that in a demanding race like the Grande Boucle today could make the difference toward Plateau de Solaison.

Although permitted, an anti-doping control in the middle of the night is a highly unusual event. So much so that the two teams, UAE Emirates XRG and Visma Lease a Bike, did not hide their surprise and understandable displeasure at such treatment.

«Vingegaard was tested at 2 in the morning, me at 5: basically, I only slept 4 hours tonight – commented Tadej Pogacar to Eurosport at the start of today's stage. - Let's say I had a pleasant and long morning! I relaxed listening to Eminem and enjoying several coffees, but it certainly wasn't nice to be woken up while I was in dreamland. I'm already tested after every stage when I'm wearing the yellow jersey, as if that weren't enough with all the award ceremonies and interviews... Obviously I have nothing against the chaperones, who sometimes get bad reactions from us riders: they're simply doing their job, which is commissioned by their bosses when they decide who to test and when».

Surprise anti-doping controls during a major international event are customary, but nighttime hours are not. The Adams software, used by the World Anti-Doping Agency to monitor athletes, allows testing between 5:00 and 23:00. But in France, a 2016 ordinance establishes that "control operations can be carried out at an athlete's home or accommodation even between 23:00 and 6:00, in respect of their privacy and intimacy, if the athlete is part of the target group of an international sports body or a foreign national anti-doping organization or participates in an international sporting event". The same article of the Sports Code (L232-14-1) specifies: «When the control is carried out between 23:00 and 5:00, there must also be serious and consistent suspicions against the athlete that he has violated or is about to violate the provisions of this chapter and a risk of evidence disappearing».