The International Testing Agency has apologised over Valentina Cavallar testing carried out shortly after the death of her mother in September.
Cavallar, a 25-year-old Austrian who has raced for SD Worx-Protime this season, described the incident in a social media post. She said officials arrived on the day in question and conducted a doping control in a room next to where her mother’s body lay.
Her post criticised what she viewed as a lack of discretion from anti-doping authorities. She also indicated that the emotional impact of the episode contributed to her decision to take time away from racing.
Cavallar had already stepped back from competition for “personal and family reasons” after leaving the Tour de France Femmes. She later suffered the loss of her mother.
ITA responds to Valentina Cavallar testing criticism
The ITA carries out anti-doping controls for professional cycling on behalf of the UCI. Its head of communication, Marta Nawrocka, said riders at international level remain subject to testing in and out of competition.
Nawrocka said the doping control officer did not know Cavallar’s personal circumstances when arriving. Once the situation became clear, she said, the officer tried to complete the control sensitively and quickly.
The ITA said it recognised that rule compliance alone did not address the human element. Nawrocka described the circumstances as an “exceptionally distressing situation” for the rider.
According to information gathered by the ITA after Cavallar’s post, the agency said Cavallar and her family cooperated fully with the procedure. It also said no request to delay or stop the control was raised at the time or afterwards.
Nawrocka said the officer, with the support of Cavallar and her family, sought to proceed discreetly, respectfully and swiftly.
The ITA also said undergoing the control had “added to her distress” at an extraordinarily painful time. The agency said it had contacted Cavallar directly and apologised.
Why out-of-competition controls can happen at home
Under anti-doping rules, professional riders must provide whereabouts information covering their movements and locations. That requirement applies between 6am and 11pm, whether riders are racing or not.
The system allows testers to find riders without advance notice. It also permits blood or urine samples as part of the anti-doping process.
Out-of-competition testing became a major part of anti-doping enforcement in 2004. Athletes in recognised Olympic sports must comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency code, not only cyclists.
Refusing a test can carry the same sanction as returning a positive sample. That framework gives anti-doping bodies wide powers to test athletes away from competition.
In exceptional cases, and with WADA permission, the ITA can also test outside standard whereabouts hours. That happened during this year’s Tour de France.
Multiple riders were tested during the night at that race. They included race leader and eventual winner Tadej Pogacar, and Jonas Vingegaard, the two-time champion and best-placed challenger.
The Cavallar case has drawn attention because it involved a doping control during an acute family bereavement. The ITA has defended the need for comprehensive testing while accepting the personal toll of this control.
For Cavallar, the episode followed a difficult period away from competition. Her social media post connected the handling of the test with the distress around her mother’s death and her break from racing.
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