Valentina Cavallar forced to undergo doping test in room next to deceased mother: 'Deeply painful and disrespectful'

Cavallar withdrew from the 2026 Tour de France Femmes before the final stage and subsequently ended her season early for personal and family reasons. On Sunday, the Austrian rider opened up about the circumstances behind her decision.

In an emotional Instagram post, Cavallar revealed that her mother had passed away in September. The loss, she explained, has fundamentally changed her perspective on life and the importance she places on sporting success.

"You can spend so much of your life chasing goals, pushing your limits, measuring success in results, victories and achievements," she wrote. "But losing someone you love makes you realise how little of that truly matters in the end."

The 25-year-old SD Worx-Protime rider, who finished ninth overall at the Giro d'Italia Women and twelfth at the Vuelta a España Femenina earlier this season, said the experience had made her appreciate the importance of family more than ever.

But amid her grief, Cavallar was confronted with an experience that made an already devastating situation even harder to bear.

Just hours after her mother died, anti-doping officials arrived at her home to conduct a test. The procedure took place in a room next to where her mother's body lay.

"I understand the importance of clean sport, and I have always respected the responsibility that comes with being a professional athlete," Cavallar 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."

The Austrian described the experience as "deeply painful, profoundly out of place and disrespectful towards my family."

While Cavallar made clear that she fully supports the fight against doping, she questioned whether the circumstances surrounding such controls are always handled with sufficient sensitivity.

For the SD Worx-Protime rider, the incident highlighted a wider issue in professional sport: the tendency to overlook the personal lives of athletes and the challenges they face away from competition.

"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," she wrote.

Cavallar ended her message with a simple appeal for greater understanding, making clear that protecting the integrity of sport and treating athletes with compassion should not be mutually exclusive.

"I believe in clean sport. But I also believe that humanity, compassion and respect should never be forgotten."