Lance Armstrong charges against UAE and Tadej Pogacar: "I don't understand what they do in their meetings, it doesn't make sense what they did"

Lance Armstrong discussed with The Move podcast colleagues George Hincapie and Bradley Wiggins the eleventh stage of the 2024 Tour de France, in particular the tactics of UAE Team Emirates who worked all day long to have no gain at the end.

The seven-time winner (later stripped for doping) of 7 Tours said he did not understand the tactics of Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates during the stage. Pogacar burned through his team before attacking 31 kilometers from the finish. Initially the yellow jersey created a gap and looked to be on the way to create more differences and extend the buffer between himself and Jonas Vingegaard, but the Dane managed to claw back the gap on the following climb.

"This is the Tadej Pogacar we know and in many ways love, he is the best cyclist of this generation. Anyone who watched the stage without context would have thought it was him 1:15 behind Jonas Vingegaard and not the other way around. I don't understand what is happening in the team meetings. They have 4 riders in the top 10. It was a hard stage, but a stage to make a difference. It doesn't make sense what they did."

About Vingegaard, he made very clear the importance of what he achieved yesterday after what happened since the crash in the Itzulia: "Great day for Jonas Vingegaard, perhaps the greatest day of his career in the Tour de France".

His colleagues Hincapie and Wiggins also failed to understand what Pogacar did yesterday, insisting that he attacked on an unsuitable day. Hincapie highlighted Vingegaard's comeback and Wggins is clear that Pogagacar has lost confidence after yesterday:

George Hincapie

"Taking it cinematically, it was a Rocky Balboa-like fight, Pogacar has been throwing all kinds of punches at him, it looked like he had him, but Jonas came back, recovered, caught him and won the sprint. In my mind Jonas was screaming Adrian! when he got to the finish line".

Bradley Wiggins

"It was a strange stage. The other day Tadej said that Jonas was afraid of him and I think it was the opposite. He had two teammates next to him and there were 30 kilometers left in the stage, the only thing he had to do was keep the lead, I don't know what he expected to gain from that, maybe another 30 or 40 kilometers over his rivals, but he has shown weakness in his confidence".