A Paris judge has given the green light for night-time doping tests on Tour de France leader Tadej Pogacar and his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, because apparently, sleep is overrated. The tests happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, with Vingegaard getting a 2am wake-up call and Pogacar being roused at a comparatively luxurious 5am.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed Monday that the International Testing Agency (ITA) petitioned the “Paris judge specialising in liberty and detention matters” to authorize the tests, which took place between July 18 and 19. Because nothing says liberty like a surprise needle at 2am.

Pogacar described Vingegaard’s 2am test as “inhuman” and suggested it ruined his rival’s sleep, possibly contributing to the crash that broke Pogacar’s collarbone and forced him out of the Tour. Vingegaard himself noted, “I was sleeping very well. It’s good that they test, but when it’s affecting performance and your sleep, I don’t think it’s so good.”

Under UCI rules, nighttime tests between 11pm and 6am require “serious and specific suspicions” of doping. The ITA, which took over the UCI’s anti-doping program in 2021, acknowledged the tests are disruptive but insisted they’re necessary for “the integrity of cycling races.”

Riders and team staff widely condemned the timing. Remco Evenepoel and Matteo Jorgenson called it a “complete lack of respect.” Meanwhile, up to five teams - including Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG and Vingegaard’s Visma Lease-a-bike - have reportedly faced nocturnal testing this Tour.

Night-time testing targets micro-dosing of performance enhancers like EPO and testosterone. Jonathan Vaughters, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, defended the practice: “If the UCI had tested us in 2001 at 2am? We’d all have been suspended and saved the sport 25 years of drama.”

The Tour ends Sunday, but test results may never see the light of day unless someone fails.