Jonas Vingegaard was feeling so good just before he crashed and his teams said they "had the race in our hands", directly contradicting claims tiredness from his 2am dope test was a factor in his crash (Photo: Charly López)
Visma–Lease a Bike sports director, Marc Reef, said its star rider Jonas Vingegaard was "feeling great" just before he crashed on Sunday at the Tour de France.
Reef’s remarks appear to directly contradict widespread claims a 2am dope test interrupted his sleep and caused tiredness that resulted in his crash.
Indeed, Reef said Vingegaard was feeling so good at the time of the crash the team was preparing him for an effort in the final of the stage and they felt they “had the race in our hands”.
However, Reef also said the "fairness" of night time tests was an issue that had to be considered, especially when some riders were picked to be woken and tested and others were not.
"He was, of course, very disappointed to end the Tour like this. He felt great, also, that day, we had the race in our hands," Reef said when asked by TNT if the dope test had caused tiredness that was later in a factor in his crash.
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"We were ready to give the shot (to) him. And then to lose everything like this, it's a big blow.
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"He travelled home yesterday and some time today he will have surgery on his collarbone. And after that we'll come with an update."
Though Reef emphasised how good Vingegaard felt on Sunday, and how ready he and the team was to give it a strong go in the final, he said the timing of the control was questionable in terms of fairness.
But, ultimately, Visma Lease a Bike, he said, was very supportive of such doping tests, they just needed to be fair.
"It's not something that I want to speculate about because, on one hand... it's good for the sport, that things like this are happening, good for the integrity.
"But at the same moment, it also harms the integrity a little bit because it's also not fair that you test on random times during the night. And that's also, for the competition, not too good.
"But, for sure, it is good that the tests are taking place and that we are completely behind."
The fairness factor in the Sunday morning tests was perhaps balanced out, certainly shared, among those with a realistic chance of winning the race overall.
Race leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was also tested, his coming at 5am, three hours after Vingegaard. That meant neither gained an advantage over the other.
