{"id":843717,"date":"2026-08-03T04:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T04:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843717\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T04:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T04:36:09","slug":"uci-president-backs-night-time-drug-testing-after-tour-de-france-controversy-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843717\/","title":{"rendered":"UCI president backs night-time drug testing after Tour de France controversy | Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UCI president, David Lappartient, has said there will \u201calways be suspicion in cycling\u201d and insisted this year\u2019s men\u2019s Tour de France<\/a> was clean. Lappartient, speaking at the start of stage two of the Tour de France Femmes in Aigle, also said he supported night-time testing during races in \u201cexceptional cases\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lappartient added that the absence of any positive test announcements by the International Testing Agency (ITA) indicated that last month\u2019s men\u2019s Tour was drug free. \u201cThe ITA never make a press release about negative results, only about positive results,\u201d said Lappartient. \u201cWe didn\u2019t see any press release in the Tour de France, so it seems there was nothing in the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tadej Pogacar, the five-time champion, and his rival Jonas Vingegaard were subjected to night-time tests, at 5am and 2am respectively<\/a>, by the ITA midway through this year\u2019s race. \u201cWe will not support something they do every night on the riders. The normal hours [of testing] are not in the night,\u201d said the head of cycling\u2019s governing body.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we support the ITA if they have to do some specific test, because we know that, with micro-dosing EPO, that\u2019s something you can\u2019t detect six or seven hours after. So, for the riders to know that the ITA may come, that\u2019s always a fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always have suspicion in cycling, due to our past. I know what has been done to fight against doping. Night testing is a tool in this fight, but it is not a tool to use every day. You must use it very exceptionally. It\u2019s not suspicion about any rider, but it\u2019s a global message to the bunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Night-time testing is a deterrent that sends \u2018a global message to the bunch\u2019, said David Lappartient. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo\/EPA<\/p>\n

Lappartient is an International Olympic Committee member alongside the besieged Fifa president<\/a>, Gianni Infantino, and was re-elected UCI president unopposed for a third term in September last year. He believes involving stakeholders is key to successful reform of sports governance. \u201cI will not interfere in Fifa\u2019s matters, but I can tell you that in the UCI transparency is important,\u201d Lappartient said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we want to make a reform of professional cycling, we will first make a presentation to the teams, the riders and the organisers. We have consultation with the stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not give advice to Fifa, but I think it\u2019s important to work with this kind of transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UCI president, David Lappartient, has said there will \u201calways be suspicion in cycling\u201d and insisted this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-843717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}