Jonas Vingegaard defended his record at the Tour de France on Wednesday, telling reporters that he doesn't take "anything I would not give to my daughter".
The Jumbo-Visma rider powered away from his closest rival, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on the queen stage of the race on Wednesday, putting five and a half minutes into the Slovenian, meaning he overwhelmingly controls the general classification.
It followed an impressive time trial on Tuesday's stage 15, where Vingegaard put 1-38 into Pogačar on a mountainous course, a performance which led some to have doubts over the veracity of the Dane's ride.
However, after stage 16, Vingegaard said that he could say from his heart that he did not take anything.
"It's hard to tell what you [I] can say more," the Jumbo rider told reporters. "I understand that it's hard to trust in cycling with the past there has been. Nowadays, everyone is different than it was 20 years ago.
"I can tell from my heart that I don't take anything. I don't take anything I would not give to my daughter, and I would definitely not give her any drugs."
The doubts over Vingegaard's performance extended to the front page of L'Équipe, France's daily sports newspaper on Wednesday, where he was labelled "D'une autre planete", or from another planet. The headline is important because it was also used for Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France, while doping questions surrounding the Texan were merely whispers of allegations.
Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Arthur van Dongen said that the team had "no doubts" over Vingegaard's performance, and that they were prepared to face scepticism.
"That's the Tour de France," he said post-stage. "We know Jonas very well, we know what we do, and that's just the Tour. That's up to them. It is what it is.
"We are prepared for it, it's the same every year. We say how we work, and we know Jonas, and we have no doubts."
On Wednesday morning, the teams of Vingegaard and Pogačar were paid a visit by testers in the morning ahead of stage 17 to Courchevel, according to a report by WielerFlits.
Riders from both squads were subjected to blood tests in Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc an hour before the start of the stage. Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates have dominated the overall battle at this year's race.
Richard Plugge, Jumbo-Visma's general manager, said the team was happy to comply.
"I applaud this," he said. "In fact, I also worked hard for it. In this way, we're taking another step in the fight against doping. Jonas Vingegaard has had no fewer than four blood tests in the last 48 hours. We are happy to participate in this."
