"It lasted six years" - Tom Boonen reveals former teammate Lance Armstrong refused to talk to him; Johan Bruyneel hits back at Belgian legend
Cycling
Cycling is in it's off-season period but you would be wrong to think that most are quietly preparing the 2025 season and just waiting for racing to start in 2025. In a recent interview, Belgian classics legend Tom Boonen revealed that despite being teammates for several seasons, Lance Armstrong spent 6 years without talking to him - which also led Johan Bruyneel to hit back at Boonen.
At Het Nieuwsblad's Stamcafé Koers, Boonen was a premium guest this week and came out with explosive revelations. In 2001 he was a trainee, and 2002 a full-time rider for the US Postal team, at the time led by Lance Armstrong who was in the middle of his Tour de France streak - that would be later stripped of him due to the use of EPO, Human Growth Hormone and diuretics.
Boonen was not yet the rider he later became or a big figure in the American team, but from the one full season he had there he had a particularly bad memory of something the American said of several riders: "I remember Armstrong saying, ‘It’s better without guys like that, they should send them all home.’ A few years later, you look back and think, seriously?"
Boonen at the time broke his contract with US Postal and joined the Quick-Step team where he spent the rest of his career all the way into 2017. He tells that even in his goodbye from the team, Armstrong had a particularly bad response and even seemed to hold a grudge against the Belgian who was only at the very start of his career. "Lance replied: ‘Good luck, you’ll need it.’ That hit me hard. And I was only 20 years old, you know. For a couple of years, he wouldn’t speak to me whenever we crossed paths in races".
It sounds like an absurd situation, but the Belgian swears by it: "It lasted six years. By then, I thought, ‘F*ck you, man.’ Every race we were both in, I’d pass him and say, ‘Hey Lance,’ and he’d just stare straight ahead, angry and grim. I just laughed at him, and honestly, that’s the best way to make a statement".
Boonen would go on to make a career out of his sprinting and cobbled classics abilities, winning the World Championships in 2005; Paris-Roubaix four times; Tour of Flanders three times and a whole array of top races spanning throughout his long career which had over 120 wins to his name by the end.
But these comments didn't go by unnoticed, and US Postal's former DS Johan Bruyneel (who was a key part of Armstrong's block). The now Belgian pundit received a lifetime suspension from the sport after his involvment in the team's scandal and his role in it, but is currently a very vocal voice in all subjects pro cycling.
He took to social media to comment on Boonen's statements, with another cryptic reply that leaves more space for the story to develop: "Boonen should shut up! I’m going to leave it at that".
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Boonen should shut up! I’m going to leave it at that. 😇🧐 pic.twitter.com/54M2MgR986
— Johan Bruyneel 🇧🇪 (@JohanBruyneel) December 21, 2024
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin is wuite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
- dude, Lemond never even was in the same race as Armstrong. He throws all these aspersions on other American riders who might usurp his throne as the greatest ever American racer. He doesn't say a single thing about (foreign) dopers who he actually raced against. Biggest douchebag move ever. I used to revere that guy, now I despise him. His actions are so weird.fatsupermodel02-11-2026
- This is just stupid, You do what you are good at not what you are weak at. He has no results to speak of when he participated. Even Froome, Conatdor had very little. With Pogi there he wont win none of the classics. he is already 30+ with a few years left at the top. It takes years to get good at classics. Is that really worth the effort???abstractengineer02-11-2026
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