Lance Armstrong critical of Van der Poel after modest Strade Bianche performance - "High expectations of him, but where was his team"
CyclingWednesday, 08 March 2023 at 01:09
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."
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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.
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- Pidcock has always come across as arrogant and not particularly smart. I’m not surprised that he, his team, and their sponsor would do something like this—and to top it off, they released the video on the anniversary of Gino’s tragic death.
UltimateOpportunist20-06-2025
Please stop it with the articles on LA's opinion. I don't care. He lost his ability to have a meaningful opinion decades ago.
does anyone really care what Armstrong or Bruyneel say these days? I don't!
I get it, and can't argue with you. But I will say that I do learn from their commentary. For all the things that can be said about them -- including now, when Lance continues to attack Jonathan Vaughters and others against whom he has grudges -- they are insightful about racing. And unlike some other old-school riders and commentators, they are able to appreciate the way things have changed and the amazing things the current generation of mega-talents are achieving. I am still new fairly new to cycling, so the technical and other insights they offer into how it all works are hugely helpful to me. Bummer it comes from such compromised sources, but in the end I will still listen to them.