PLATEAU DE SOLAISON — Professional riders and anti-doping testers were at loggerheads at the Tour de France after former winner Jonas Vingegaard crashed out following a night-time control.

Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar led the protests describing being woken up in the middle of the night for a doping test as “inhuman”.

The drama broke on Sunday morning with a report in Le Parisien newspaper about both Vingegaard and Pogacar – the two men who have dominated the Tour for the last six years – being tested in the night.

Vingegaard confirmed he had been awoken at 2:00 am while Pogacar said that testers had been to his hotel at 5:00 am.

Both said that their sleep had been disturbed.

Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Matteo Jorgenson said he was “furious”.

“This is a complete lack of respect for the riders,” he told reporters.

The International Testing Agency (ITA) was responsible for the controls and issued a statement defending its actions, insisting that it had to conduct night-time tests to ensure it operates an “effective” anti-doping programme to protect “the integrity of cycling races”.

It said that its “testing activities” were “subject to the safeguards established under the World Anti-Doping Code, the UCI Anti-Doping Rules and French law”.

It also denied that it had discarded “riders’ welfare, equity and fundamental rights”.

But the issue took on another dimension when Vingegaard crashed out with 20km left of Sunday’s 183.9km stage from Champagnole in the Jura region to Plateau de Solaison in the Alps.