"Never, ever listen to Lance Armstrong about anything" - Ex-pro slams disgraced American's advice to Tadej Pogacar during Tour de France
CyclingWednesday, 24 July 2024 at 12:03
During the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar thrilled fans with his relentlessly attacking riding, winning six stages and taking a third Maillot Jaune of his career ahead of great rival Jonas Vingegaard.
After every stage of the Tour de France however, arguably the most controversial figure in cycling, Lance Armstrong, reflected on the day's events via his podcast The Move, alongside the likes of Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie and Sir Bradley Wiggins. Speaking about Pogacar's domination of the race and desire to win as many stages as possible, Armstrong warned the Slovenian leader of UAE Team Emirates: "don't give people a reason to hate you" and "don't give them a reason to doubt you."
Former American professional turned Strava KOM hunter, Phillip Gaimon however believes any opinion, advice or warning from someone as disgraced as Armstrong should be immediately thrown away and ignored. "Never, ever listen to Lance Armstrong about anything," the 38-year-old former Garmin - Sharp rider brutally assesses on his own podcast.
"People keep doing these climb comparisons. They're looking at the climbs from Pantani and Lance and Ulrich and all those guys. And of course, Tadej smashed a tonne of those this year. And you look at that, it's like, oh, well, that's a bad sign," continues Gaiman. "But then look at this is 25, 30 years ago for a lot of those. Think about if you went to ride Pantani's bike right now up a hill, you'd be like, 'ew'. Everything has progressed. All sports progress, technology has progressed, aerodynamics, equipment."
"And then you get into like nutrition and training. Every sport is going to get faster over time. Cycling from a certain era was going to regress a little bit and then progress over time. Am I saying Tadej is clean? No, I don't know that guy. But I see a lot of comments like, 'man, don't be naive, everyone's doing it'. No, they're not. That is absolutely not true. I know a lot of guys in the peloton still, I'm very close friends with a handful of them," he concludes.
"I'm not best friends with anyone on the podium, but I'm super tight with people who are very high up, who have gotten significant results this year, whose names have been mentioned in these events, who I trust thoroughly. So is everyone doing it? No, even back then, that wasn't the case."
claps 32visitors 30
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
May 12, 11:09
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- It was morale not moral, try again.Mistermaumau14-06-2025
- Remember what Moho told you Tadej.Mistermaumau14-06-2025
- A journalist getting carried away
leedorney14-06-2025 - I was thinking the same. Jonas looked totally spent, face ashen. Tadej looked like he was on a group coffee ride. And Tadej said he didn’t even have to go deep.mij14-06-2025
- Did they really push him to the limit? He literally says he didn’t go too deep. This is a pretty misleading headline. Jonas is the one who looked wrecked.mij14-06-2025
- What the chuff is a “moral winner” quite sure none of them would want a prize just for turning up .. only one winner Tadejslappers6614-06-2025
- Maria. I think riders will attack on the downhill sometimes. It’s up to every rider to descend within their limits. Some riders are more skilled descenders. Others have different risk tolerance. Tadej followed so clearly he believed the risk was worth it to stay with his rivals. And yes, racing downhill is dangerous.mobk14-06-2025
- Dangerous moves win races sometimes.awp14-06-2025
- That is not what the Wisma riders like Sep Kuss say. If you look at the average speed of the downturn it was normal for a route like that. The french rider Roman Bardet in front drove 1 minut faster downhill that the Wisma Team. It is the individual riders choice and responsibility not to drive faster than what he considers safe. Thus stop whining Maria.Jakob14-06-2025
- Yes time will tell. Jonas's training is scheduled so he is believed to peak late in the Tour - but I guess that goes for Tadej too. Jonas needs steeper and longer mountains to be at his best. The Tour de France will be more exiting than everJakob14-06-2025
"Clean" ex pro is beating KOMs of known dopers... I hear laser tattoo isn't as painful these days
Wow 58 comments and some about what bike we ride, etc.
Maybe this site needs an "open comment" section for each week or month?
The Move is the best cycling pod.
They did cover how nutrition and technology has changed so obviously this guy didn't listen. Btw, Lance is super entertaining and Johan super knowledgeable.
That thing is 60% ads and 40% of Amrstrong's self-centered stories. It's garbage.
clearly English is a second language and this guy didn't really understand a word LA was saying. He clearly did not listen to the entire pod either
Lance Armstrong is a criminal.
Ty ty ty ty ty ty ty ty why does Lance still breathe air in this sport. He does not belong, I couldn't believe my ears when NBC signed him to whatever. He should be cast out and stay out period.
Phil who????
I Love L.A.
How many LIvestrong bracelets are you wearing now ?
I don't agree with Phil Gaimon on everything that he's said there, but I can can certainly get on board with with the part about not listening to what Lance Armstrong has to say.
Please, editors, stop giving LA press. He doesn't deserve it and I'm tired of hearing anything he has to say.
He's a liar and doesn't deserve any of the fame he has. Ignore him and be done with it.
Yes, Full Agree. This will be last comment and last viewing of anything related to LA on this site
Then you have to say goodbye to all sport of the last 3 decades. You really have no idea what even your dearest heroes have done, and I can guarantee you, you are demonising one person unfairly
I find Armstrong interesting ok he doped and so did a hell of a lot of people back then too, tho Boardman would never as would a few others, Simeoni seemed to not either.. Watching Gaiman is great viewing he's still riding and enjoying that and that's great! Who didn't and who did dope back in the 90's would be a big haul, does that mean some got cheated out of placings, yes..it'll roll on this for a number of yrs - take Tyler Hamilton, he's personally pleaded guilty...you could go on and on..with riders from the nineties who used drugs
yup, and you could also go on and in with riders from the 80s, 70s, 60s and 50s. the fact that they didn’t use EPO because it didn’t exist doesn’t give them a PASS if you really want to be consistent about hating dopers. they used the best drugs of what was available to give them an edge. that’s anquetil, coppi, merckx, and EVERY TOUR CHAMPION except lemond and indurain (only ones to never get caught or admit it) from charly gaul to alberto contador.
throwing out the history and voice of any doper wipes out the entire history of the sport. i mean, you can do that if you want.
Yes, Indurian was in the sweet spot of time, they had EPO but no test until 2000. The only thing close was an HC measurement. That's what got Pantani kicked out of the Giro but also why there was no loss of titles because the EPO test hadn't happened by then.
I agree Ocexile. I'm all for free speech and his opinion along with everyone else's opinion is welcome. If reading his opinion offends anyone so much. Don't read it move on and read something else! It really is as simple as that.
You mention Lemond as being clean and/or never caught. This story might interest you. I have no opinion on the subject myself.
I was at a trade show in Denver in 1998. We flew back to the UK from Denver along with a number of American track cyclists who where competing at the Masters World Championship at the Manchester velodrome. There was about eight of them and we naturally got to talking about cycling and doping. The talk got around to doping in general and Lemond's name was mentioned. When I quizzed them about whether Lemond doped? To a man they forcefully stated that he did and that it was pretty much general knowledge in the U.S. Cycle racing community that he did. I was surprised but was unable to delve further into how they knew this to be true as a stewardesss just at that moment asked us to quieten down as other passengers had complained about the noise we where making! I've thought about that conversation often when Lemond's name comes up as a vocal anti-doping figure.
That story just sounds like rumor. Anyone who followed LeMond knows he was an outsider to most of the European omerta. Before 1990, I believe it was possible for a really talented rider to win the Tour without drugs. After '90, I'm sorry, but no. EPO was just too big of an advantage, and when did LeMond stop being competitive? 1990. He slowly slid into ignominy as more and more riders realized that EPO was like rocket fuel. Look at Claudio Chiapucci. In '90 he has a huge advantage over LeMond in the GC that LeMond slowly whittles down to nothing. Over the next couple years Chiapucci is dropping Lemond like it was cool. Even Roche made a comeback in '93 and he admitted it was because of EPO.
yeah, i was just sticking to stick reportage, not giving my opinion on lemond’s or indurain’s guilt/innocence. just as a raw fact those are the only two between gaul and contador that never got caught OR confessed. (VERY strictly, hinault is on the list with those two, but he got banned for REFUSING to provide urine samples).
as to lemond… the day after he BLEW UP on stage 20, he went out and rode a time trial that was SO FAST it stood as THE FASTEST TDF TIME TRIAL EVER RIDDEN for like another 20+ years, faster than EPO DOPED TT SPECIALISTS that would follow him. faster that guys on highly aero machines. and again, that’s less than 24 hrs after he absolutely BONKED, nothing left.
is that fishy? yeah, kinda fishy.
but he WAS never caught nor did he admit to doping.
Can you name any of the people who allege Lemond doped?
Thank you
Is Alpe D'huez the stage Lemond bonked on? If so that was 96 hours before the final TT.
As per the TT, it was gradually downhill and there was a tailwind.
Waiting to see any proof you have on LeMond being a doper? Anyone like you and your friends can start rumors with nothing to back it up!
Correct. Didn't Santiago Botero use to run a 60 which he said was his base line lol
Armstrong's situation is unique because he was an American. Europeans view doping almost like fouls in basketball. They know it is going on, if you get caught, shame on you, but they don't obsess about it much. Armstrong pissed off too many people and one of them decided to make a name for himself by prosecuting him and he got lots of former teammates to dish on him--in exchange for immunity for their own doping.
Can you imagine the Spanish sports authorities going back and trying to take away Indurain's tours from the '90s. The thought is laughable. I read and article that came out when the statute of limitations ran out for Operation Puerto and it implied that the reason they (Spanish authorities) would not release the names was because there were a couple of national-hero level athletes from non-cycling sports that were on the list and they were protecting them.
Now, having said that, Armstrong got what he deserved, but I value his opinion as much as any past champion who we know was doping. Why is it when Contador give an opinion that one cares he was a doper? Just a double standard. Pantani died a tragic death, so no one touches him, but he was doper and the last guy to do the Giro-Tour double. Can you imagine Italian authorities taking away his wins. No, he got a memorial or two.
thanks, CDW, for this really smart, informed, and carefully articulated comment. you get at some cultural differences here that generally go completely unnoticed/ignored.
Yeah Phil, Pantani's EV2 is just so heavy, dead on @ 15 lbs... When one guy tells you not to listen to something or somebody, maybe it's them we shouldn't listen to...
Are you seriously still riding a 25 year old bike since there have been no improvements?
I ride aluminum and carbon frames. Since I'm an old man now I like to race on my Colnago more than my Cannondale lol.
You are the LBS owner's dream. Having worked in several in the 80s/90s, there were those who just had to have the latest season's equipment fashion (JFC gravel bikes? OK). These were the architects and proctologists who could afford it, not the talented riders who were still riding their same old bikes and dropping all the weight-weenie slaves like stones two miles after the ride started.
“You are the LBS owner's dream”
Nah. I ride mostly cheap old bikes. However I don’t kid myself that I am riding the fastest machine available.
“I own a 2004 Merlin Extralight. Superb machine. So it's only 20 years old”
Tell me that is your newest bike and you’ll at least be consistent with your claims
Wise words.
Cycling fans and cycling media should ignore him. Attention and “relevance” are the oxygen he craves