Evenepoel takes time trial amid distraction of doping test debate

STEPHANIE LECOCQ/REUTERS

Remco Evenepoel powers his way to the time-trial victory on stage 16

Riders’ body says judge who authorised out-of-hours tests ‘knew nothing of cycling’

22 Jul 2026 - The Guardian

Jeremy Whittle

Remco Evenepoel took back-to-back stage wins in the Tour de France, and eroded some of Tadej Pogacar’s overall lead, with victory in the stage 16 time trial from Evian to Thonon-les-Bains. 

The Olympic road and time trial champion, now second overall in the Tour, won on the Belgian national day from Pogacar by 28 seconds, to reduce the Slovenian’s advantage to just over four and a half minutes. It was the third Tour time trial victory of his career.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on this level so it feels amazing to be in this good shape in the Tour,” Evenepoel said. The Belgian, who described Pogacar as a “superstar”, added: “It’s not over yet. There are still some hard stages to come.”

Pogacar’s UAE Emirates XRG teammate, Isaac del Toro, remains in third place, but Paul Seixas is now just 20 seconds away from a podium position after taking time on the Mexican rider in the race against the clock. Evenepoel’s success was tempered by the loss of his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate, Florian Lipowitz, who finished third in the Tour last year but quit the race yesterday after crashing.

Lipowitz fell on a tight right-hand bend as he exited a downhill section. He was carried away from the scene on a stretcher and it was confirmed later that he sustained a broken collarbone. He was the second 2025 podium finisher – after Jonas Vingegaard on Sunday – to leave the race in 72 hours.

While the race continued, the debate over the ITA drug testing agency’s nocturnal activities, which involved 2am and 5am visits to Vingegaard and Pogacar respectively last Sunday, continued. The decision to test both riders outside the usual window of 6am to 11pm has been criticised heavily by some, despite the tests being authorised by the Paris prosecutor’s office. “With a French judge it’s not going to be hard to get that warrant,” Jonathan Vaughters, manager of the EF Education EasyPost team, said.

“They’re going to look at the history of the sport. To a French judge that is not a sports scientist, or a haematologist, I do not think it would be too difficult to convince them. I doubt if they had to fight that hard for it.”

Vaughters insisted that he is “very supportive” of the ITA. “I think this is an example of them doing a good job. I just don’t think you should read into the fact they got a warrant from a judge. My guess is the bar is not that high.”

Pascal Chanteur, vice-president of the CPA, the professional riders association that has been critical of nocturnal testing, also questioned the Paris prosecutor’s action, saying “the judge knew nothing of cycling”. Chanteur said: “The CPA supports nighttime testing if there’s enough evidence.” He suggested there was no significance in Vingegaard being tested at 2am and Pogacar at 5am: “This is because of the ITA’s limited resources.”

The French sports code specifies testing procedures “must be carried out under conditions that ensure strict proportionality between the infringement of the athlete’s rights and the objectives of the fight against doping”. Speaking in May this year to Reuters, Olivier Banuls, the ITA’s director of testing, said: “We do a lot of testing but we don’t do mass testing. To do mass testing is to throw money out the window.”

The outcome of the tests on both riders remains unknown, leaving the Tour in a state of limbo, carrying on regardless. Pogacar is closing in on what would be a record-equalling fifth Tour win.

Today Stage 17 Chambery Voiron 174.7 km, flat stage

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