Lance Armstrong backs respect shown for Tadej Pogacar after Tour de France crash: "They wouldn’t want that guy riding angry"

Lance Armstrong has shared his take on Tadej Pogacar’s crash during Stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France, offering analysis on his podcast The Move alongside former pros George Hincapie and Bradley Wiggins. The trio were united in their view: the peloton made the right call by waiting for the race leader — but the consequences of the crash could still be felt in today’s first summit finish at Hautacam.

The incident occurred when Pogacar, wearing the rainbow jersey, went down in a crash involving Uno-X’s Tobias Johannessen. Armstrong highlighted the irony of the moment: “Pogacar collided with a rider from Uno-X — a team that’s had both a brilliant and brutal day. They almost managed to take out the Tour’s top favourite. He had trouble getting the chain back on, needed help from neutral service. He was struggling. And in that moment, the peloton had a decision to make: keep riding and gain 20 seconds at the line, or sit up and wait. And they waited.”

All three agreed that waiting was the only viable option — not just tactically, but ethically. Hincapie suggested that any attempt to capitalise on the crash would have been seen as unsporting: “If they’d tried to take advantage, it would’ve looked really bad. I’m glad they waited — they’d have waited for you, and you’d have done the same. Besides, what could they have done? EF weren’t going to drill it on the front. Visma only had Matteo Jorgenson — a top-five contender — and Simon Yates, the Giro winner. They’d have ended up looking terrible.”

Wiggins was on the same page, pointing out the minimal gains on offer for a move that could have drawn heavy criticism: “They weren’t chasing the stage win or anything like that. What would they have taken — 20 seconds at best? I think they made the right call. It was the respectful thing to do. And we know what Tadej would’ve done if Jonas Vingegaard had gone down — he’d have done exactly the same.”

Armstrong took the point further, arguing that exploiting the crash would have handed Pogacar powerful motivation on the eve of a decisive mountain test: “If they’d taken those 20 seconds, they’d have known exactly what Tadej would be thinking tonight — just before the first major summit finish. I’ll just say this: they wouldn’t want that guy riding angry.”

As the conversation turned to the impact of the crash, Hincapie offered a sobering assessment. While Pogacar remounted quickly and downplayed the incident at the finish, the physical toll may still linger: “He hit the tarmac hard — landed on his hip and shoulder. Sure, he got up fast, but that’s adrenaline. At the line he said he was fine, but we’ve seen it before — you often don’t feel the real damage until the next day, especially when you’re heading into the high mountains.”

With the Tour’s first serious climbing stage looming, all eyes will be on the yellow jersey. The peloton may have shown sportsmanship in the heat of the moment — but whether Pogacar emerges unscathed physically remains to be seen.