Nobody wants to be woken up in the middle of the night, especially when theyre in the midst of one of the worlds toughest endurance events. But thats exactly what happened to leading Tour de France contenders Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogaar.Vingegaard and Pogaar were woken at 2am and 5am, respectively, on Sunday morning by doping control agents from the International Testing Agency (ITA), who made the riders provide samples ahead of stage 15.The incident has proved divisive, with reactions ranging from sanguine acceptance to uproar and apology. Pogaar said the test meant he only got four hours of sleep before Sundays stage. But he added that, If this is necessary to prove that we are riding clean, then I totally accept it.Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohes Remco Evenepoel took a different approach and described the incident as inhumane, pointing to the importance of sleep at the hardest and biggest race in the world. I hope it doesn't happen any more in the future, he added.Athlete welfare versus keeping sport clean Tadej Pogaar: If this is necessary to prove that we are riding clean, then I totally accept it. Tim de Waele / Getty Images The ITAs testing of Pogaar and Vingegaard reveals a tension at the heart of anti-doping controls and particularly cycling, which has a history marred by substance abuse that breeds distrust towards its stars between athlete welfare and keeping sport clean.April Henning, director of the international network of doping researchers and an associate professor at Heriot-Watt University, told BikeRadar of her reaction to the ITA testing.I immediately thought of the tension between the push for anti-doping controls and to maintain doping-free cycling, against that tension of athletes' rights and the need forrespecting a recovery period and allowing athletes to actually rest, she said.On the one hand, it's very easy to say there has to be a line, Henning said. Athletes have to be allowed time off. They have to be allowed the ability to recover. They have to be allowed to sleep when they're in the midst of a multi-week stage race that requires hours and hours of intense endurance activity a day.But she added: The other side of it is that we should be testing at all times because we know from previous cases, previous scandals the lengths that athletes will go to to use prohibited substances to gain an advantage.EF Education-EasyPost manager Jonathan Vaughters, a former US Postal rider who admitted to doping throughout his career, took to X to comment on the nighttime anti-doping control test.I dont post here much. But Ill roll this grenade down the aisle: 2am testing is one of the very effective ways to prevent peptide(EPO,hGH) and testosterone micro dosing. If the UCI had tested us in 2001 at 2am? Wed all have been suspended and saved the sport 25 years of drama, he wrote.Its unfortunate that Tadej and Jonas have to atone for the sh*t we did. However, Id take some lost sleep for some credibility. I should apologize to both of them, honestly, he added.ITAs defence Jonas Vingegaard abandoned the Tour de France after a crash on stage 15. David Pintens / Getty Images Part of the consternation over the nighttime tests relates to the UCIs anti-doping rules. Article 5.2 says: Unless the rider has identified a sixty minute testing window between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., or has otherwise consented to testing during that period, the UCI will not test a rider during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Rider may be engaged in doping."The ITA has implemented the UCIs anti-doping programme independently since 2021. On Sunday, it defended the decision to test Pogaar and Vingegaard, placed first and second in the general classification when the test occurred.The ITA is conscious that night-time testing may be disruptive to riders' rest and recovery. Due consideration has therefore been given to minimise as much as possible the impact testing activities have on riders, the ITA said in an official statement."However, the ITA, on behalf of the UCI, has the responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of the cycling anti-doping program and the integrity of cycling races. As such, effective testing must, in limited and justified circumstances, be capable to occur outside standard daytime hours.LEquipe then reported that the nighttime tests were carried out after being authorised by a judge in Paris before the race. This legal procedure is similar to that of a search warrant in criminal law, and this is the first time it has been implemented since it was brought into French law in 2015.Vingegaard crashed out of Sundays stage and broke his collarbone, forcing him to abandon the race.Pogaar suggested the incident could have been due to the disrupted sleep after the nighttime test. However, Team Visma-Lease a Bike reasoned that it could have been due to the line the lead motorbike took through the corner where the two-time champion came down, ending his race and leaving fans bereft of the one potential challenger to Pogaars dominance.The Cyclistes Professionnels Associs weighs in Adam Hansen (left): Riders are terrified of getting a missed control. Dario Belingheri / Getty Images The riders union, Cyclistes Professionnels Associs (CPA), released an official statement on Monday, that said other riders were subject to nighttime tests at the weekend, and that highlighted the same conflict between riders and anti-doping raised by Henning.Professional riders are the first to want a clean sport, it said. To preserve the integrity of their discipline, they contribute directly to funding the fight against doping (they are the only athletes who contribute financially to testing).However, nighttime testing raises questions about its relevance: Interrupting their rest in the middle of the night for testing now warrants serious consideration.Our goal is not to call into question the fight against doping quite the contrary. We want it to be increasingly effective, targeted and efficient in identifying cheaters, but always while respecting fundamental rights, health, and recovery conditions.According to Adam Hansen, president of the CPA, cyclists must be available for tests every day of the year. For one-hour control slots they must be at the exact location stated in their whereabouts. But doping control officers can still show up for the other 23 hours of the day.If a rider isn't home, because they stepped out to get a coffee or went to the park with their child which they decided during the day, they are required to provide proof of where they were and why, Hansen wrote on X. Failing to justify their whereabouts can be logged as a missed test. Riders are terrified of getting a missed control.The problem for Henning, however, is where the line is drawn. It is a real, real tightrope to be balanced on when you're trying to do what's best for the athlete and do what's best for the sport, she said.That's the question that we simply just don't have a great answer to, is where does that line need to be? And there absolutely needs to be a line. But where it falls is just that tension that nobody has a great answer to.