After World Championships win, Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel agree: "Many put Pogacar and Vingegaard on the same level, but that's not true"
CyclingTuesday, 01 October 2024 at 20:30
Tadej Pogacar put in a masterful ride at the 2024 World Championships in Zurich to take for the first time in his career the World Championships. He will be putting on the rainbow jersey after an attack over 100 kilometers away from the finish and among those that were impressed is Lance Armstrong.
The man who won and then lost 7 Tour de France spares no praise for the Slovenian, whom he already considers one of the best of all time. It is clear to him that his physical superiority is so high compared to the rest that he has a confidence out of the ordinary in professional sport:
"Tadej Pogacar is a generational talent, he's in the pantheon of all-time greats. Obviously physically the guy is so superior and the confidence level so high, he looks like he's racing a junior race. In my day I wouldn't attack at a hundred kilometers even in the under-23's, it's a beastly confidence."
Johan Bruyneel, co-host of 'The Move', for his part highlighted the comments of his great rivals after his exhibition and described what he had achieved as 'unique': "In the interviews of the other two favorites, Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel, both agreed that they could not believe what had happened; Evenepoel said it was 'suicidal', they could not believe what they had seen. I think Pogacar's achievement is the most deserved World Championships in the history of modern cycling, it's so unique to see a rider win such different races.
He makes it clear that he is way ahead of Jonas Vingegaard as a complete cyclist and that he only has Paris-Roubaix as a real challenge in his career:
"Many put Pogacar and Vingegaard on the same level, but that's not true, they are not on the same level, Vingegaard can't do what Pogacar has done in the World Championships in a one-day race, he has already beaten the big specialists in the Tour of Flanders, Van Aert and Van der Poel, on the cobbles. He only has one thing left which is Paris-Roubaix and I think he can win that too."
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Because they all doped when Lance was winning multiple TDF titles. Jan has said he doped and most of Lance's wins...Jan was 2nd at worst 3rd. As another person commented, only 1 or 2 riders in the top 10 (when Lance was winning) were not caught doping. What is that saying? That about 98% of the TDF in the years Lance won were also on something. You also have to give credit to Lance as likely the best bike handling riding in the race. He knew when to do what he needed to do to beat the other doped riders. As for Johan, he was the man calling the statagy in the race. So, like it or not they both know more about cycling than most people do to this day. Watch a podcast on the TDF and pay attention to what they say. Chances are very good that the following day if a rider is doing what they said...they win. They called a 3 grad tours this year based on what they knew had to be done over the next stage or stages to seal a win. And then the riders who won were doing exactly what was said. That's knowledge of how to race and position yourself to win. No question. Meaning that while you may not like it. They knew everything needed to win. Right down to what Stage Roglic was going to have to do in it to take the win and red jersey (and win the overall) and like it or not he did just that. Pretty much exactly. Like them or not they know
why bother arguing about LA & Co. ? erased from the books, man- they dont belong, just fictional characters that robbed the honorable of their rightful place and tainted cyclists in the eyes of the public.
So during WWII the media and politicians shouldn’t have reported stuff Hitler was saying either?
There is a difference between giving someone a platform and reporting his words. If that isn’t understood then there’s another thing unlikely to be understood, all those voicing their opinion to remove LA’s platform are ensuring it stays!
It’s like using aircon because of global warming, doing exactly the opposite of what could work.
There’s still a huge difference between a doper winning by his means and a doper doing his own thing.
That’s like saying every uncaught big tax cheat is as bad as Madoff who ruined people’s lives. The courts certainly wouldn’t hand out similar sentences.
Yes, they may predict a lot of outcomes right but so do many fans, and you only have to follow the betting odds to notice how many and how easy it often is.
It’s not exactly like they predict an UNEXPECTED result is it?