Lance Armstrong analyses rare show of Tadej Pogacar weakness at Amstel Gold Race: "No one outright said, ‘I hope they catch him,’ but we were all thinking it"

Lance Armstrong, alongside Johan Bruyneel and George Hincapie, unpacked the dramatic finale of the Amstel Gold Race on the latest episode of the WEDŪ podcast. Like most fans and pundits, Armstrong was caught off guard by the rare sight of Tadej Pogacar not winning.

The Slovenian star launched a trademark solo attack with 40km to go, but was eventually reeled in by Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose. It was the 24-year-old Dane who stunned the field, outsprinting the favourites in the final meters.

“What a shocker,” said Armstrong. “But this is why they race. This is why they pin on a number. I was watching and honestly thinking, ‘Well, here we go again - Pogacar’s just going to ride away with it.’ He went at 40km to go, and we all know he's the best of his generation, maybe even the best ever. But credit to Remco and Skjelmose - they flipped the script.”

Armstrong admitted that while watching the race unfold, part of him was hoping for a shake-up to the usual Pogacar dominance.

“It was such an exciting race. In our group chat, we were all glued to the GPS, watching the time gaps, wondering if he’d be caught. No one outright said, ‘I hope they catch him,’ but I think we were all thinking it: ‘Come on, let’s see something different for once!’ And we did. We saw a real race, with two, three, even ten guys in the mix. That’s what made it so fun to watch.”

Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong’s former director at US Postal, offered his take on why Pogacar couldn’t close the deal.

“Amstel is a tough race,” Bruyneel said. “I think Pogacar came in motivated, his team was controlling things well. He looked good—but not great. Not the same level we’ve seen from him in recent weeks. This is really the second part of the spring classics. We’ve had Flanders, Roubaix, and the semi-classics around them. Now we’re into Amstel, Flèche, and Liège—a different type of racing, often with different riders. Pogacar is unique because he can do it all, but in Amstel, he looked a bit caught between styles.”

Bruyneel suggested that Pogacar may have been thrown off by Julian Alaphilippe’s surprise attack.

“He had the ambition to win, for sure. But I think Alaphilippe’s move surprised him. I got the feeling Pogacar wanted to go later, maybe on one of the steeper climbs. When Alaphilippe went, I saw something in Pogacar’s body language—it didn’t look like the usual super smooth Pogi. He seemed fine, but not that version of himself. Suddenly he was alone off the front, which I don’t think was the plan. That can wear on you.”

Nutrition may have also been a factor, Bruyneel noted, referencing Armstrong’s point on the podcast.

“It’s something we’ve seen before. He lost a sprint to Jonas [Vingegaard] at the Tour once, but bounced back. Still, these solo efforts—doing them again and again—take a massive toll.”

Despite the hiccup at Amstel, Bruyneel fully expects Pogacar to be back in top form for the upcoming Ardennes races.

“I’m confident we’ll see a different Pogacar at Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He could’ve still made the podium at Amstel, but he wasn’t the dominant Pogacar we’ve seen lately.”