EF team boss Vaughters reacts in his own unique way to Pogačar and Vingegaard's overnight doping test

The third week of the Tour de France continues Tuesday with a time trial, but the overnight doping tests on Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are still the talk of the town. Many current and former riders have already voiced their criticism, and now EF Deucation-Easypost team boss Jonathan Vaughters has weighed in as well. In his comments, he was notably self-critical.

Anyone who understands what elite sports are all about knows how important rest and recovery are. So it made perfect sense that Vingegaard was anything but happy about being woken up at 2 a.m. for a doping test. Pogacar’s turn came at 5 a.m. that same night. In any case, his teammates reacted furiously to the tests the next morning.

That same day, Vingegaard was forced to withdraw due to a broken collarbone following a crash, after which Pogacar suggested that it might have been related to the night time check. Reactions poured in, though the gist of most of them was the same. Lance Armstrong was outraged by the 2AM check, while Oliver Naesen also expressed his confusion.

Enter Jonathan Vaughters, the big boss at EF Education-EasyPost. And, not unimportantly: the American has previously admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his career. On X, Vaughters said the following: “I just want to drop this bombshell: doping tests at 2 a.m. are one of the most effective ways to prevent microdosing of peptides (EPO, hGH) and testosterone.”

Because, as the EF team manager notes: “If the UCI had inspected us at 2 a.m. in 2001? Then we would all have been suspended, and the sport would have been spared 25 years of drama,” he says self-critically. “It’s a shame that Tadej and Jonas have to make up for the mess we’ve caused.”

"But I’m happy to put up with those sleepless nights in exchange for a little extra credibility," Vaughters clarifies, even going a step further at the end. “To be honest, I should apologise to both of them.” Those apologies won’t mean much to either rider, but at least it’s a realistic explanation from the American former cyclist.