Valentina Cavallar had been enjoying a successful season since signing for SD Worx–Protime at the beginning of 2026, with a top-10 place in the Giro d’Italia Women, but after pulling out of the Tour de France Femmes just before the final stage, the Austrian stepped back from racing for what were reported as “personal and family reasons”.
The 25-year-old Austrian, who represented her country at the Olympics as a rower before changing to cycling, has just revealed more details about what led to that decision, and her words look certain to spark a debate about the application of testing protocols for riders, and how best to balance the need to deter cheating with some basic human discretion.
Taking to social media, Cavallar said the devastating death of her mother was what led her to pause racing, but she went on to state that her grief was exacerbated by the way she was treated by cycling authorities immediately after her loss, when she was subjected to a drugs test in the very house where her mother’s body lay, just hours after she had passed.
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“Losing my mum in September has changed the way I see life forever,” Cavallar wrote on Instagram. “I have always known how important my family is to me, but I don’t think I ever truly understood just how much until I had to experience life without my mum.
“What made this experience even harder was that just a few hours after my mum had passed away, I had to undergo a doping control at home, in the room next to where she lay.”
The UCI insists that professional riders supply details of their movements and locations between 6am and 11pm, on the understanding that the International Testing Agency (ITA) can test them for illicit substances at any time. In exceptional circumstances, if they have permission from World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), they can also target cyclists outside of those hours.
Out-of-hours drug testing was a topic of much conversation during this year’s Tour de France, when multiple riders including eventual winner Tadej Pogacar and two-time champion and best-placed challenger Jonas Vingegaard were both tested in the middle of the night, before big stages, with no clear explanation ever made public as to why this was done. Vingegaard crashed out of the tour the day after his test, and broke his collarbone.
Cavallar was tested in daytime hours, but during a time of extreme personal distress, when she was not involved in a race, which raises questions about the ethics behind the decision to proceed with the test. The Austrian was very clear that she recognised the right of the cycling governing body to test riders, but urged the authorities to use some discretion and show a bit of basic compassion in circumstances such as hers.
“I understand the importance of clean sport, and I have always respected the responsibility that comes with being a professional athlete,” she explained. “But in that moment, I was clearly not thinking about cycling, competition or my responsibilities as an athlete. I was a daughter who had just lost her mum.
“Having to navigate a doping control in those circumstances felt deeply painful, profoundly out of place and disrespectful towards my family. It was a moment that made me reflect on how easily we can forget that behind every athlete, there is a human being with a life, a family and emotions that do not simply disappear when the responsibilities of professional sport begin.”
