First he was woken up at 2am for an out-of-the-blue doping test that dragged on for 40 minutes. Hours later, Jonas Vingegaard read a turn incorrectly and, less than 20km from the finish line, hit the road. The crash took two of his teammates down with him, but it was the man sitting second in the Tour de France who paid the heaviest price a broken collarbone and a race over.

Despite that, Vingegaard believes that the error was nothing more than a simple mistake by flawed human beings.

“Maybe the motorcycle made a mistake, but we can’t rely on the motorcycles,” Vingegaard said after the race (via X). “We have to use our own judgment. Humans make mistakes, so that’s sometimes how it is, and we can’t change that now.”

The incident, however, occurred on stage 15 during the final descent. With less than 20km until the finish line, Jonas Vingegaard was in fine shape and being towed by his teammates. However, the guide motorcycle led them through a section of town and in an instant, the Dane was down. It was initially unclear what caused the crash, although experts speculated it had to do with the turn.

There was a crossroads where Vingegaard and company were turning, and analysts pointed to a section they believed forced the Dane to overcommit. He crashed first, taking several Visma-Lease a Bike teammates and Isaac del Toro down with him. However, they were fine to continue and did so while Vingegaard got into an ambulance, marking the end of his race.

“Well, surprisingly well. It is of course very disappointing for us to exit this way, and that the Tour ends like this, but that’s how bike racing is sometimes,” he explained. “And fortunately for that, it’s only a broken collarbone.”

The 29-year-old has pulled out of the Tour de France to undergo surgery, and it is a massive blow. After all, Jonas Vingegaard is one of the best cyclists in the world right now and a two-time winner. Not just that, he’s finished inside the top two alongside Tadej Pogacar since 2021, but the crash brings an end to his streak of finishes.

What only adds to the 29-year-old’s troubles is the fact that someone woke him up at 2 am. The Dane revealed before the race that a Doping Control Officer (DCO) had interrupted his sleep. The International Testing Agency’s (ITA) DCO knocked on his door and conducted a nocturnal test, something that usually doesn’t happen.

The standard window is 6 am to 11 pm, with night testing usually never taking place, especially during the middle of a race. The entire process took 40 minutes and disturbed Vingegaard’s sleep. Even if he refused to blame the crash on it.

“Well, it is clear that it certainly hasn’t done any good for it, you could say,” he added. “Whether that is the cause, I dare not predict. I don’t want to put the blame on that, because it is bike racing.”

While Vingegaard refused to link the interrupted night to his crash, the test’s unusual timing quickly became a talking point. The ITA then explained why they conducted the anti-doping test overnight.

ITA’s statement on the nocturnal testing

Unfortunately, Jonas Vingegaard wasn’t the only one affected by the nocturnal testing. Officials also tested Tadej Pogačar, albeit three hours after his long-time rival. Officials tested the four-time Tour de France winner at 5 am, and he had already completed most of his sleep when the DCO arrived. Even then, it didn’t stop him from hitting out at the ITA and DCO, saying it could have caused Vingegaard’s crash.

He even called it “inhuman,” although he got lucky as he got his “deep sleep” and thus wasn’t as badly affected. Pogacar wasn’t the only one, as Jonas Vingegaard also touched upon the nocturnal testing, as did Remco Evenepoel, the winner of stage 15. It forced the ITA to react, and a spokesperson touched upon the incident.

“The International Testing Agency (ITA) has been entrusted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to implement its anti-doping program in an independent manner since 2021. The ITA can confirm that anti-doping controls were conducted overnight involving riders participating in the Tour de France,” said a spokesperson (via Cycling Weekly)

“The ITA is conscious that night-time testing may be disruptive to riders’ rest and recovery. Due consideration has therefore been given to minimise as much as possible the impact testing activities have on riders.”

What the spokesperson was pointing to was the UCI’s anti-doping rules, which state that riders must provide a one-hour window between “11 pm and 6 am” for testing. Beyond that window, no testing can take place, and the UCI and ITA can’t test cyclists.  However, in serious circumstances, that rule goes out the window, and the organisation can test the rider whenever it wants. 

“However, the ITA, on behalf of the UCI, has the responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of the cycling anti-doping program and the integrity of cycling races. As such, effective testing must, in limited and justified circumstances, be capable to occur outside standard daytime hours.”

The debate over overnight testing is unlikely to fade anytime soon, especially after Vingegaard’s Tour ended within hours of the test. For the Dane, though, the focus has already shifted from the circumstances of the crash to recovering from the injury.