Lance Armstrong: "To have Pogacar as he does just reinvents these classic races"
Cycling
Milano-Sanremo took over all of the spotlight over this week and weekend and the reality is the race delivered. Not only was there a formidable show and battle between three legends of the sport, but the race was also decided with an attack on the Cipressa for the first time in almost 30 years. Lance Armstrong praised Tadej Pogacar's doings and how his presence changes races completely.
"There was this expectation that he would finally win Milano-Sanremo, and obviously for this he would need to have a great team - which he does have. I thought UAE Team was misfiring today," Armstrong said in The Move podcast. There was a massive build-up to the race, with months of anticipation over a potential planned attack for the Cipressa and the team looking to support the Slovenian with an A-tier squad, and the plan almost worked to perfection.
"It was no secret, they said it already since last year that they wanted to do the Cipressa in nine minutes or under nine minutes," Johan Bruyneel said, not surprised with the tactic that was put in display. "I don't know what the time is, but then you could still say ok 'even if they do that' they're not going to have a big advantage and they can come back between Cipressa and Poggio'. These guys just race whatever traditional rules there are in cycling about certain races - doesn't matter anymore, they do everything the way they want and it works".
The reality is that cycling is indeed changing and nowadays more and more riders tend to launch long-distance attacks, many times succeeding. Pogacar has done this with success on multiple occasions, and if it was an also nuclear-leveled Mathieu van der Poel following him both at the Cipressa and Poggio, his plan might have worked to capture the fourth monument into his palmarès.
"To have Pogacar as he does just reinvents these classic races. With his strength, with his ability to attack, recover, attack recover... And obviously mentally just as tough as he is... This was a whole new look as I watched, this is a different race, a race like unlike any other spring classic or monument," Bruyneel argues.
However Armstrong was perhaps more impressed with the race winner Mathieu van der Poel at the end of the day, after seeing him be able to respond to the attacks of the rainbow jersey. "Mathieu van der Poel was just that good. i don't know if you guys caught this or not, but when Pogi was going, Ganna was swinging, van der Poel was 'fingers on the nose' did you see his face?"
So commenting then! Every single time it's the same, someone complains that there are articles written about him yet it's precisely because, clearly, people are commenting. Starting with you
Do you need a tissue since I seem to have offended you with my comment?
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- I love listening to Geraint Thomas, he is such a great sportsman.awp26-03-2025
- Liege or Amstel are a little different. Only he knows what really works for him. I'm a bit disappointed that he is not going to focus on any other races potentially until the Dauphine. If you don't have race days in the legs no matter how good you are it generally gives a negative result. I had argued that he knew what works for him the other day but he seems to have maybe a mental block or is still a bit gun shy from last year's crash, which to be honest, was pretty bad. He might be in his last season or two. I hope not because he can still do quite a bit of winning if he gets his head right.awp26-03-2025
- Do you need a tissue since I seem to have offended you with my comment?frieders326-03-2025
- You mean Liege or Amstel or Flech doesn't play to his abilities ? That's a cop out !frieders326-03-2025
- He beat a field of second rate sprinters....yawn!frieders326-03-2025
- He didn't beat any top class sprinters in this race so slow the roll!frieders326-03-2025
- I think, sometimes, women's races are more interesting because of their unpredictability due to their silly mistakes. The most recent ones seem to always involve Demi Vollering against SD Worx. 11% is way too discriminative. Is there no guardrail in EU laws that prevent this sort of discrimination?
KerisVroom26-03-2025 - Good for him but not exactly the most competitive field, though better than what Froome would try ;-) Let’s wait and see if he can keep things up over time.Mistermaumau25-03-2025
- Huh? So when the men’s is boring and the women’s isn’t should they transfer money or how do you suggest to do things. Last I heard, it’s a bunch of mostly ageing chubby men who set the criteria for women’s races (and in most sports it’s still rather like how religions are run). Don’t think the girls are particularly against doing the same races as the men. Anyway, there’s a huge unjustified gap between 11% of and a difference of 11%. Doubt this happens at the Olympics.Mistermaumau25-03-2025
- C’mon, nobody has ever spoken of Ganna in the same breath as those two until a few months ago and he showed how close a thing it can be when he’s on form, nobody can know in advance what form Remco will have, his Olympic form would cause even Tadej problems, and Wout, well, we’ll just have to wait and see but you can’t really write him off in advance.Mistermaumau25-03-2025