Lance Armstrong critical of Van der Poel after modest Strade Bianche performance - "High expectations of him, but where was his team"

A thrilling and exciting race unfolded at Strade Bianche on Saturday, with Tom Pidcock taking home the win. While Lance Armstrong praised Pidcock's performance, he also had reservations about Mathieu van der Poel and his team's performance.

In his podcast Themove, he kicked off the discussion of the race by commending Pidcock's impressive performance before delving into a detailed breakdown of the event. "Tom is an interesting guy. It was a see you in the showers move. Someone needs to make a YouTube compilation of him, those things he does."

He highlighted the importance of having the right combination of riders and team, citing Pidcock as an example of this. "He's in one of the best teams. To win a big round, you actually have to be with Jumbo-Visma, UAE or INEOS. They have that successful approach."

However, the same couldn't be said for Van der Poel and his team, who underperformed, with the Dutchman finishing in a lowly 15th place - an unsatisfactory result following his successful cross season. "We had - like everyone else - very high expectations of him, but where was his team? It is not normal that his team did not give home in a match like this, I think it is some kind of morale problem," said the American.

"We've talked about this before, but it's worth repeating: can they stay so good and motivated from the age of 19 to 30? That's hard, very hard," concluded Armstrong.