State of the Peloton 2026

[Rob5091]

With all hoopla and bs PR going around at the Tour, it's easy to miss something interesting -
https://ita.sport/news/ita-to-deliv...nce-anti-doping-program-on-behalf-of-the-uci/

So knocks on hotel doors at midnight maybe? I await complaints by teams.

Vingegaard and Pogacar were both woken up at 2 and 5 am this night by the vampires.

The ITA did warn them ...

 

[Tim Cahill]

Intelligence led testing, I wonder what they suspect.

 

[ColonelKidneyBeans]

The ITA did warn them ...

Yes, i wonder if this is just to scare them or if they have an idea about what they should be looking for and how to pop them for it.

 

[Tim Cahill]

5.2.2

'The UCI will not test a Rider during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Rider may be engaged in doping'

 

[TrekCyclist]

I really wonder if there was any specific evidence, leading to the tests in the middle of the night.
Otherwise its a disgrace and may indirectely jeopardizing rider's health.
UCI and ITA should now justify their actions.

 

[zarathustra]

I really wonder if there was any specific evidence, leading to the tests in the middle of the night.
Otherwise its a disgrace and may indirectely jeopardizing rider's health.
UCI and ITA should now justify their actions.

With tomorrow being a rest day I hope the journalists use the time to ask some questions. If UCI/ITA had reasons to be suspicious, then it should at least be possible to get a few clues.Could get interesting.

 

[Berniece]

5.2.2

'The UCI will not test a Rider during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Rider may be engaged in doping'

But it isn't the UCI, right?

 

[Tim Cahill]

But it isn't the UCI, right?

ITA do the testing yes, but as a delegate of the UCI so I believe the same rules apply re: restrictions, unless someone can correct me.

There's a conspiracy doing the rounds that they're trying to shake up Seixas' competitors, many of the posts wouldn't look out of place on here, it's the rest day tomorrow so as above hopefully someone resourceful has the right contacts.

 

[Berniece]

ITA do the testing yes, but as a delegate of the UCI so I believe the same rules apply re: restrictions, unless someone can correct me.

There's a conspiracy doing the rounds that they're trying to shake up Seixas' competitors, many of the posts wouldn't look out of place on here, it's the rest day tomorrow so as above hopefully someone resourceful has the right contacts.

No reason for UCI to help the French help Seixas

 

[Kopfsteinpflaster]

Wouldn't they have tested the Red Bull guys, del Toro and Ayuso if they want to help Seixas? They could test Pogacar seven times a night and he would finish first.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

No reason for UCI to help the French help Seixas

Remco should watch out.

 

[houtdffan]

this wasn't for drug testing

Sunday, big mountain stage, before the world cup final... plus this is the UCI we are talking about

They may have been telling the boys to put on a good show given the circumstance and there will be ZERO testing

 

[Sciatic]

Wow, I just looked at Instagram and there is avalanche of comments about how the 2:00am doping control affected Vingegaard. Some of the pros and former pros are really making hay with this opportunity to criticize drug-testing regimes. I would think Tour riders regularly experience a lousy night’s sleep for various reasons but no one has blamed a crash on that.

 

[red_flanders]

No reason for UCI to help the French help Seixas

Wasn’t it the AFLD, the French doping agency who conducted the tests?

 

[Rackham]

Wow, I just looked at Instagram and there is avalanche of comments about how the 2:00am doping control affected Vingegaard. Some of the pros and former pros are really making hay with this opportunity to criticize drug-testing regimes. I would think Tour riders regularly experience a lousy night’s sleep for various reasons but no one has blamed a crash on that.

It's a giant omerta and all the guys in the know and in the club act chummy towards one another. The smugness in the peloton and cycling world is like a visible toxic cloud tbh.

Nothing has actually 'changed' since 98 (in fact I'd say it's worse, especially the media subservience towards the whole morbid spectacle) and these guys are always 2 minutes from going on strike because anti-doping violates their human rights or something. Just like the good old days.

Notwithstanding the above, I think it's also fair to say a 2AM dope control that takes 40 minutes out of a rider's bedtime is going to have an effect. I don't care what angle people approach this from but it's beyond asinine for some parts of the internet to act like it's a nothingburger. But (huge but) it does also make sense because the window for glowing is often very short, so I'm surprised they haven't been nighttime testing regularly already. And when the riders and cycling world start screeching and arghh wargh-ing about something, you can bet it's starting to get close to something uncomfortable.

 

[Rob5091]

I'm a friggin' idiot who lives no where near the Tour and I knew about the testing. If teams did not expect testing at all hours after the ITA wrote on their website it would happen, then maybe they should use some of their sponsors millions to hire someone to read relevant stuff.

As for nighttime testing, of course it's necessary, but the peloton has got used to sitting up at altitude in Spain where there is NO testing between Friday night and Monday morning.

The ITA did lots of test before the Tour to get data for the ABP, so I'd expect some guys to possibly be popped after the Tour for "irregularities".

Remco, I see, "doth protest too much" ...https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cyc...ke-action-over-nighttime-anti-doping-testing/

 

[Rob5091]

Wasn’t it the AFLD, the French doping agency who conducted the tests?

The ITA does the testing and a lot of other things for the UCI (see https://www.uci.org/international-testing-agency-ita/3b8l1iDvvjJ9W7Y7njXOlO ).
It also collaborates with national anti-doping agencies and police, and even in the Lazkano case, "The ITA hired two former police officers, one Australian specialized in intelligence and the other Belgian specialized in customs." It seems to me that the ITA uses national anti-doping agencies as extra manpower for testing and info.

 

[Rob5091]

Pogi recounts testing this year -
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racin...strange-anti-doping-testing-at-tour-de-france

"This year, it has been very strange with the testing in general. If I can sit here two more minutes I can explain. It has been going on strange with controlling, they're doing different a little bit different testing than usual. They're doing everything. They're trying to do different things. ...
The Slovenian also spoke of blood tests happening after races, including after Strade Bianche, which he won. A modification to the UCI's testing and investigations regulations from last month reads: "If a blood sample is to be collected in a serum tube from the rider, sample collection shall not occur within sixty minutes of the rider’s training, participation in competition or other similar physical activity."

"Then came also Strade Bianche, I had a blood test after the race," Pogačar said. "This was really strange for me, because normally if there's a blood test, the rule was before April 2026 that after you have a heat, sauna, hard session, there was a two hour window that you cannot test the blood. After Strade I did the press conference, I came to the control station one hour and a half after the finish and there were still six riders in front of me. All six riders did a blood test as well, so we needed to wait one hour. After one hour from the race they started to test. I think this was out of the rules, because Strade was before April.

"From April on they changed the rule that we can be tested one hour after the stage. It happened here at the Tour, they tested after some stages, the blood.

Reason why, I would hazard to guess, is https://ita.sport/news/ita-to-deliv...nce-anti-doping-program-on-behalf-of-the-uci/

Increased focus on the endogenous steroid markers measured in blood serum as part of the steroidal module of the ABP, and on the endocrine module of the ABP to better detect markers of human Growth Hormone (hGH) abuse

 

[Tim Cahill]

They require a specific suspicion, and this exception as far as I can tell has only been used on one day the entire time it has been codified.

This begs the inference that the two athletes are suspected of the same methodology/doctor and that the ITA had knowledge in advance.

That is of course if we have a positive interpretation of the organisation, they could have a hokey AI model telling them these two riders are probably going to be good on this specific stage and used that to try and justify the raid. I could’ve told them that myself, don’t waste your money.

 

[Netserk]

5.2.2

'The UCI will not test a Rider during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Rider may be engaged in doping'

if its by 5 2 4 then 5 2 2 doesnt matter

 

[ColonelKidneyBeans]

if its by 5 2 4 then 5 2 2 doesnt matter

The French sporting code applies then and article 232-14-1 is quite similar for testing between 11pm/5AM, stating "serious and corroborating grounds for suspecting the athlete has contravened or is about to contravene the provisions of chapter II, and a risk that evidence may be lost."

 

[Tim Cahill]

The French sporting code applies then and article 232-14-1 is quite similar for testing between 11pm/5AM, stating "serious and corroborating grounds for suspecting the athlete has contravened or is about to contravene the provisions of chapter II, and a risk that evidence may be lost."

Yes, judicial approval was also granted.

Un juge a autorisé les contrôles antidopage nocturnes de Tadej Pogacar et Jonas Vingegaard lors du Tour de France

INFO L'ÉQUIPE. Un juge des libertés et de la détention du tribunal judiciaire de Paris a été saisi par l'International Testing Agency (ITA) avant les contrôles nocturnes de Tadej Pogacar et Jonas Vingegaard. Ces mesures ne peuvent être autorisées sans « soupçons graves et concordants ».

www.lequipe.fr

This story at first look appears to be far bigger than them fishing in the dark or the discourse around tiredness contributing to the crash.

My apologies if some nuance has been lost in translation.

‘Contacted, the Paris prosecutor's office confirms to L'Équipe: "As traditionally, upstream of the Tour de France, the public health poles of the courts of Paris and Marseille, competent in doping, have exchanges with the UCI (International Cycling Union) and the ITA. The JLDs of these two jurisdictions are competent at the same time to rule on applications for night-doping controls. A judge of freedoms and detention in Paris was therefore seized by the ITA pursuant to Article L.232-14-4 of the Sports Code in order to authorize the anti-doping controls that took place on the night of July 18 to 19. "’

 

[nightowl]

This is the biggest in-Tour doping story in quite a while, very curious to see where this goes especially with the fact they needed a judge to sign off on it.

Then again, Bahrain had their hotel raided in 2021 and that never amounted to anything so I’m not holding my breath.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Yes, those were not just random tests. Our heroes were targeted (due to some suspicions) and a judge approved the night tests.

This is the biggest in-Tour doping story in quite a while, very curious to see where this goes especially with the fact they needed a judge to sign off on it.

Then again, Bahrain had their hotel raided in 2021 and that never amounted to anything so I’m not holding my breath.

After their 2021 exploits the next year they were too weak to even get into breakaways.

 

[Sciatic]

Yes, those were not just random tests. Our heroes were targeted (due to some suspicions) and a judge approved the night tests.



After their 2021 exploits the next year they were too weak to even get into breakaways.

Interesting. I wonder if the commentators who were so righteously up
In arms about the timing of the testing (like Robbie McEwan with “it’s a violation of human rights”) knew that this probably wasn’t just testing run amuck?