Tadej Pogacar got four hours of sleep. Jonas Vingegaard got less. Both were woken in the dead of night during the Tour de France for anti-doping tests, and cycling hasn’t stopped arguing about it since. Former pros say it’s exactly what the sport needs after decades of abuse. The riders living through it, and the association representing them, aren’t so sure. Now, Lance Armstrong, a man who knows more about doping than most, has entered the debate.

The former seven-time Tour de France winner, who was stripped of his titles, was speaking on The Move podcast and was vehemently against it.

“They came to his room at two in the morning, knocked on the door and woke him up in the middle of the Tour. Testing at two in the morning is a human rights issue. I am speechless,” Lance Armstrong said.

“This is the hardest sporting event in the world. Sleep is essential. Nobody here is saying there should not be testing, but do not do it in the middle of the night. Not during the hardest sporting event in the world.”

“What would happen if you knocked on Messi’s door at two in the morning? They don’t do this to Messi. Dear UCI, you are not getting any credit for this. So what are you doing?”

Vingegaard crashed less than 20km from the finish line, breaking his collarbone, and withdrew from the race. For the first time since 2021, he wouldn’t be a part of what has become an iconic 1-2 in the Tour de France. After all, between him and Pogacar, the two have won every Tour since 2021, and Vingegaard was second before stage 15.

Only the reigning Tour de France champion Pogacar stood ahead of him in a tight battle. Then he crashed, broke his collarbone, and ended any chances of him winning his third Tour de France in 2026. It saw the Slovenian hit out at the International Testing Agency (ITA) for testing the Dane at 2 am and him at 5 am.

“First they wake him up at 2:00 am for a control, which I think is very inhuman,” Pogacar said (via France24.com). “It ruined his sleep. It got me thinking that it could also be a small percentage why he crashed because he probably didn’t sleep well today.”

And he wasn’t the only one as the floodgates flew open after news of Jonas Vingegaard’s withdrawal from the Tour de France became official. As the criticism gathered pace, the reaction was far from unanimous. While some former riders echoed Armstrong’s concerns, others argued the overnight testing was a necessary part of protecting the sport.

Former pros split around 2 AM doping tests

“I don’t post here much. But I’ll roll this grenade down the aisle: 2am testing is one of the very effective ways to prevent peptide (EPO,hGH) and testosterone micro dosing. If UCI had tested us in 2001 at 2am? We’d all have been suspended and saved the sport 25 years of drama,” Jonathan Vaughters wrote on X.

Vaughters is a former cyclist and confessed that he used erythropoietin (EPO) during a widespread doping program. That was through organised blood doping schemes while he was on the Santa Clara and US Postal racing teams. Not just that, he also revealed that during this period (1996-2000), he witnessed cyclists independently doping, including himself until 2002.

It was around that time that the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) strengthened its anti-doping programs after a series of major scandals, including the Festina Affair and Lance Armstrong’s controversy. That led to the 2004 World Anti-Doping Code, with its cornerstone being out-of-competition and no-notice testing.

That’s what Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have been subject to.

Belgium’s Oliver Naesen added to the conversation when he touched upon the effects of growth hormones.

“We need to take this seriously. Apparently, there are substances that remain detectable in the blood for only 3 hours. We need to test at the moment that matters. I’m hearing that they’re looking for growth hormones,” Naesen said in an interview.

There’s no confirmation on what the ITA and UCI were testing for. However, as per The Guardian, nocturnal testing is only done when there is serious suspicion. Furthermore, a Paris judge authorised the 2 am and 5 am tests on Vingegaard and Pogacar, with the prosecutor’s office confirming the same.

Even then, people still questioned the veracity of the testing and the effectiveness of the current anti-doping rules. Adam Hansen, another former professional cyclist and now the president of CPA Cycling, had a lot to say on the matter.

He lashed out at the entire process in his post on X, calling the equipment standards inconsistent and calling for “Quality over Quantity.”

“We want dopers to get caught, we don’t want to [harass] clean riders and get given a presentation with the total number of tests being increased year over year with fewer positives,” he wrote on X.

Lance Armstrong’s criticism may have amplified the debate. However, the overnight tests have exposed a divide that extends far beyond one former champion. For now, cycling continues to balance aggressive anti-doping measures against the toll they take on the riders expected to endure them.