Lance Armstrong in disbelief after Jonas Vingegaard's time-trial heroics: "I'm kind of speechless"

Jonas Vingegaard was simply on another level to everyone else at the Tour de France, on the stage 16 individual time-trial, as the Dane blew the field away in taking a dominant victory. One man who was certainly impressed was Lance Armstrong.

"I'm kind of speechless," the disgraced American said with a shake of the head on his podcast The Move after the conclusion to the time-trial. “What Jonas has done is so exceptional. And nobody really saw it coming: I myself have been bullish about Tadej Pogacar's chances in recent days. This time-trial should suit him completely. But I'm only too happy to be wrong about this sort of thing."

"Vingegaard took more than a minute and a half. That means he drove 2.5 kilometres per hour faster, which is more than five percent faster," continues Armstrong in growing awe. "And then we are talking about the toughest race in the world, with all super-trained athletes. From a technical perspective, it was perfect."

Armstrong's podcast partner, Johan Bruyneel was also similarly impressed. "Vingegaard was on a different level. He himself said that he was so surprised and that it was the best time trial of his life. You saw that Vingegaard was ready for the war, in everything. I didn't have that feeling with Pogacar: he didn't radiate much aggression."

"We saw Pogacar jumping into the pool on the rest day and laughing with everyone, but at the same time we saw little or nothing of Vingegaard," Bruyneel concludes. "Something tells me that Pogacar was not doing his best the day after the rest day, but nevertheless he had not reached Vingegaard's level."