Lance Armstrong warns Tadej Pogacar that greed for victories could turn out to be "the biggest mistake of his entire career"
CyclingSaturday, 20 July 2024 at 15:22
Tadej Pogacar's fourth Tour de France 2024 stage victory on Friday at Isola 2000 has caused quite a stir in cycling. Lance Armstrong even took a swipe at the upcoming Tour de France winner on his podcast The Move. The American ex-pro believes winning too many stages could come back to bite the Slovenian later.
"What we saw here is the biggest mistake of his entire career. I promise you that," Armstrong is very fierce. "The other teams don’t like this, the fans... Then you can say that the people back home in Slovenia like it, yes, but you are also riding against the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, against Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark. Two big countries in cycling. You are riding in France, with the French media. This is a huge mistake on his part."
"Then I hear the reactions: it's a race. Yes, that's true, but it's also a political campaign," the American continues. "Don't give people a reason to hate you. And I like to repeat that. Don't give them a reason to hate you. And if that's too much? Then don't give them a reason to dislike you. And even more important: Don't give them a reason to doubt you. Don't give them a chance to question your greatness. And he did do that, that was his biggest mistake."
Armstrong wants to add something to that later in the podcast. "I am really a fan of Tadej Pogacar," he says. "As a fan and supporter I said: don't do this, don't do this. I wanted the best for him. He could have caught Jorgensen and taken a stage. I have had many of these situations. On the Mont Ventoux I let Marco Pantani win the stage, but he was not happy with that. That felt like an extra blow to him. That didn't feel good either. But Pogacar has to look at the final podium in Nice. That is the real victory."
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I've tried to love Lance despite the fact he ripped the heart out of the American people after gaining our faith and admiration. Until this article, I even defended his lies and cheating, justifying it because "everyone did it." This kind of talk just seems like sour grapes and jealousy. Done loving Lance. He's old news trying to stay relevant. This new breed of rider is far more exciting to watch than he ever was anyway.
What a D-bag comment from the most doped up rider in the past 30 years ! The one who always used bully tactics wants Tadeg to give away wins...hilarious !
Armstrong won 0 Tour de France.
Lance oh Lance….does your p***y still hurt? Lance is just trying to make comments that get him clicks on his amateur podcast. The same goes for Teejay on NBC sports broadcast. Seems like TVG grew up in competition where everyone gets a trophy just for participating. This is not youth sport. Athletes and teams get paid to win.
Maybe it just me but if I was Mateo, I would prefer winning knowing that nobody “gifted” me the win.
TJ will be whining for the next weeks about Tadeg not gifting wins ! What a major irritant on that broadcast !
This was 100% personal because of how Visma's juggernaut past two years beat Tadej, mostly last year. He was so dejected last year that, for a hyper-driven competitive guy like this?? OF COURSE he'll never forget that. So, picture this: now, Visma has a team moment where Jonas is losing and so "releases" jorgensen to race for his own glory and take a stage win... If you're really surprised Tadej responded, you're not paying attention! Armstrong is LOVING his return to having some spotlight, just loving it, so he's also no surprise to be acting like the ultimate hypocrite and telling others how to be a conscientious winner. Lolllllll that's really the funny part we should all be roasting. The intense rivalry and will to win between Jonas & Tadej is fierce and wonderful. Don't be a nihilist and decide they're all doping etc with no evidence but your assumptions, just enjoy the competition! (Until some actual proof or 1st person testimony of doping comes out, then f- 'em!)
So enjoying your comments. Lance was THE MAFIA of doping.
Not often mentioned are two more items:
1) He gave the UCI money to combat doping! (protection money?)
2) In the USA when he was first charged his Livestrong Foundation for cancer awareness (not cure) gave Planned Parenthood (abortion provider) money and the prosecution was dropped.
If he hadn't been advised to buy into Uber early, he might be broke today.
Without Uber he would have had to make some major lifestyle changes.
I'll never forget the $100k he gave to the UCI on his way out the door before he came back in 2009 lol
well thank GOD armstrong was supporting reproductive rights for women. maybe i still like him a little bit after all. thanks for sharing lance’s good side, i had no idea…
Never forget that Hein Verbruggen, President of the UCI until 2005, the same year that Lance first retired, had money invested with Thomas Weisel Partners, the owners of tailwind sports who owned the USPS team.
Hein Verbruggen was accused of covering up many non negative tests for many pros back in the day. In fact a lot of the urine tests for some of the top pros like Armstrong, tested non negative for EPO pre 2000.
Thomas Weisel was a masters champion, he's still alive and quite wealthy. If you've never read Wheelmen you should. This takes us back to the beginning of organized doping in US cycling. It's completely nuts.
I guess money talks and BS walks in this case. It's hard to believe it's any different today lol
One more thing on the this subject. Lance is not wrong but he is assuming that Pogi and the other top guys are doping, I also assume this, but I still enjoy watching them race. Just to be in the top forty or fifty on gc you need to do some type of recovery, probably some type of blood recovery that the UCI is turning a blind eye to or just behind the times on. Remember, the first EPO test didn't happen until summer of 2000.
Oh, the person who dislikes the friendliness among current batch of cyclists now preaches diplomacy. Wow, the Bully in Chief has issued his dictate to Pogacar!
such a good point
Everyone talking about doping, denying one guy is clean while others, like Armstrong, were not is funny.
At least the top fifty on GC are using every recovery method in existence. What they are doing is not possible. Pogi, Jonas and Remco's HC should be about 15 right now lol... Dream if you want to, but remember, it's a dream, not reality...
I could not agree more. The vitriol for Armstrong is bizarre. He did nothing that had not already been done before his time. And who knows better than him that being an A-hole comes back to bite you. Pogi is trying to pay everyone back for two years of suffering at the hands of others, but right now I doubt a soul in the peloton would lift a finger to help him if he was on the side of the road with a mechanical. He had no reason to attack these past two days other than to feed his need for attention and to beat down his rivals. I'll be quite willing to bet they have long memories and there will come a day when it bites him.
I think Pogi should win everything he can. Cycling is about winning, everyone else might as well be last place. But folks, just don't kid yourself.
do you watch the riders at the end of the race? they all seem to have a natural rapport and respect for Tadej. he’s friendly with everyone and everyone is friendly with him. but on the tarmac it’s winning time, that’s all. what champion is ever supposed to stop winning to give someone else a chance? this isn’t a preschool playground.
Tadeg is giving a big middle finger to Visma ! Plain and simple ! He chased down Matteo yesterday just because he was Visma...he even stated that in an interview !
That's true enough, but he, like so many short-sighted tyrants, is forgetting that he's bullying them in a best-case scenario for him/worst case for Jonas/Visma. In future conflicts, I suspect he's going to pay because he has shown that he'll throw his own people under the bus (Landa today) in favor of his own interests--not a strategy that inspires loyalty. Visma , meanwhile seem to have built a team culture that creates a team better than the sum of its individuals. And Pogi has made it into a feud. What are the odds Visma is ever going to have worse luck than this year? Pogi's day of reckoning is coming.
Why is this cheat given air time he dragged cycling down to the gutter and now is trying to preach about riders who make it watchable .....
Lance wasn't the only guy to drag it down...
I know the story well. Lance was a prick, but when we talk about performances most everyone else was doing the same thing, not to say that's acceptable because its not. I knew he was doping for sure when he held 495 watts for almost forty minutes when he took the L'Alpe d'Huez TT. 15.5km in 39min 41 secs.... 6.97W/kg. For a guy with a functional Vo2 system of 72 at 10,000 altitude or about a 78 at sea level. Impossible.
yes, THIS is what makes lance detestable, not just that he dropped. his argument about trying to “level the playing field” is pretty legitimate. riding CLEAN then meant that you could be the most naturally gifted and hardest working rider in the peloton and you would NEVER win a race. it’s also not the lying that makes armstrong such a villain, because if you’re going to cheat, you’re GOING TO lie about it — you’re CHEATING…
it’s the way lance was completely prepared to destroy the lives of anybody who tried to tell the truth about him. vicious. merciless. ruthless. cruel.
Ignore the windbag who said it and even the substance of what he said is wrong. Oh, if it had been Simon Yates in the lead he wouldn’t have done it. He said so. Because it was a Visma rider, he slammed the door. That’s called rivalry and revenge and he’s entitled to it after the past two years. The team broke yesterday, a little bit, and it was personal.
Sounds like the guy is speaking from experience. It is greed if you cheat to obtain victories, but if you earn it fairly, with talent, guts and hard work, it is called sporting excellence, and it is worthy of emulation and respect.
Please stop covering what this loser has to say.
Oh shut this born again windbag up. The gall of this abuser to preach about restraint and diplomacy. Shut. Up.
Obviously still taking drugs, what a pratt.
what a total tool. Tadej's fans want him to win. JV fans and others don't. that is sport.