"He knows what the record is" - Lance Armstrong suggests Tadej Pogacar is targeting his Tour de France stricken record
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar is two weeks away from winning yet another yellow jersey at the Tour de France as he commands the general classification. In doing so, he would join a legendary club of riders who have won La Grand Boucle five times.
Four of cycling's biggest names have won the Tour on five occasions - Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernaud Hinault and Miguel Indurain. If all goes to plan for the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider, he will also make the step up and tie the record.
But Lance Armstrong believes the record books don't tell the full story. From 1999 to 2005, the American rider won seven successive editions of the Tour de France as he dominated the race. However, his wins were wiped from the records in 2012 after a doping investigation before he admitted to doing so in 2013.
Discussing Pogacar's potential record-equalling win in France, Armstrong claimed that the Slovenian is actually looking at his stricken record of seven wins as the benchmark, and not the five wins of the four other riders.
“Soon Pogacar is going to win his fifth Tour de France," Armstrong said on The Move Podcast.
"And then we’re going to have to read everywhere that he has equaled the 'all-time' record and is joining that select club. But 'guess what'? He doesn't even believe that himself. Not at all. He knows what the record is.”
Armstrong hopes Pogacar breaks record
Further elaborating on his feelings about pogacar potentially winning seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong insisted that he hopes he can succeed.
“He will be at it for even longer. By the way, I hope he succeeds. I am an athlete too. You play the game. All records can be broken, and this one may be broken as well,” concludes Armstrong.
The odds are very much in his favour to make it five wins at this time of asking. His UAE team have proved to be one of the strongest in the race as Pogacar took two stage wins - including a mountain domination of the general classification field, putting minutes into his rivals.
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Jonas Vingegaard is the best of the rest at 2:42 behind the world champion, while the other podium contenders sit at over three minutes down - including Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Juan Ayuso.
A versatile second week will offer some opportunities for the Slovenian to consolidate his lead before some tougher Alpine tests in the final week are set to wrap up the fight for yellow.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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Front24213-11-2026 - Exactly you said it urslf - he outclimbed del toro by 19 sec. 19SEC and you say hes alot better than del toro still lol? And can also do the same where del toro did that to jonas even and del toro dauphine numbers better than jonas all year so why this hard whats the issue its super easy stuff - del toro wasnt that before. Then factor in both their trajectory the last years and the answer is self explonatory like i said. Nothing against jonas like many do but the typing is no the wall and so stupidly easy as its so self explanatory now. Have a good daymiguel13-11-2026
- Dirty ex doperFront24213-11-2026
- As far as points go they need to take a page or ten out of the Astana playbook!Lozza13-11-2026
- Ah, seems he’s been busy elsewhere! 😆Lozza13-11-2026
- Where is he when you need him!? Wake up man! You’re missing an opportunity!Lozza13-11-2026
- A very true statement made by Johan Bruyneel: "We don’t know for sure about Jonas, because he dropped out of the Tour de France, but he would never have come close to Pogacar. Maybe he would have finished second. He won the Giro in dominant fashion and the Vuelta the year before, but Visma wants to win the Tour." That's exactly what I've been saying the last six months. If Pogi races with Jonas, the most he can be is second... UNLESS... Pogi crashes out or makes a BIG mistake, which is not likely to happen. Either Bruyneel thinks the way I do or he reads my posts. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans13-11-2026
- TADEJ POGAČAR !!! "Anatomy of a G.O.A.T." OK, that's great!!! I've been saying all along: Tadej Pogačar-Pogi is the G.O.A.T... period. Not only in cycling... but he's the greatest sportsman that ever lived !!! But let's take a look of what real foolishness looks like: We have many many fools, also on this site, saying that Pogi is "boring,"... he's making cycling "boring"??? I can't believe what's comming out of their deteriorating smelly mouths. So I guess Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Fasto Coppi and Anquetil were also boring!?!? I guess Michael Jordan, Le Bron, Gretzky, Messi, Ronaldo, Shumacher, Novak Džoković, Federer, Rossi, Marquez, Phelps, Michaela Shiffrin, Venus Williams, Bolt, Lewis Hamilton... etc. were all boring. PS: Many cycling "fans" that think that way, have to get a brain scan. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans13-11-2026
- Ayuso has had enough time. He's always going to be a mediocre to good cyclist... nothing special or astonishing. But he does have many excuses, just like Remco, but Remco delivers good wins on occasions, Ayuso doesn't. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans13-11-2026
- I agree, Johan Bruyneel made big mistakes, he was involved in the biggest doping scandal in the history of sports... BUT NEVERTHELESS... Bruyneels analysis on bike racing and cyclists is among the best. That's a fact... period!!! I love listening to Spencer Martin and Johan on WEDU-THE MOVE PODCAST, but I don't care about Armstrong and Hincapie. They are both american bull shi***s who like to exaggerate and talk nonsense.PogiSloFans13-11-2026
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