"Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard are at another level" - Lance Armstrong clear on Remco Evenepoel's chances in Tour de France 2024

On "The Move" podcast, Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel and George Hincapie reflected on the upcoming cycling season, highlighting some surprising predictions that came up during the discussion.

One of these predictions revolved around Remco Evenepoel's expected first participation in the Tour de France. The 24-year-old Belgian champion, who belongs to the Soudal-Quick Step team, will embark on the prestigious La Grande Boucle race for the first time in July. However, the three cycling analysts had differing opinions on the position Evenepoel could achieve in the final classification.

"I'm really looking forward to Evenepoel's involvement," Hincapie began. "I have nothing but love for him. He won the Vuelta, he dominated Liège-Bastogne-Liège, although I'm sorry he couldn't duel with Tadej Pogacar (because of his heavy crash). He's a world-class climber and time trialist and has a strong team behind him, so he has all the ingredients to get on the podium, although not to win."

On the other hand, Bruyneel pointed out a specific advantage for Evenepoel in the Tour de France compared to other grand tours. "Of the three grand tours, the Tour suits him best. The Tour has fewer very steep climbs, but more long passes, where you can use all your power for a long time. I hope he will change the way he rides, be more conservative and look at the Tour as a three-week race instead of 21 one-day races. His team has to work on that too. He himself wants to be in the top five and, as far as I'm concerned, that's an achievable goal."

Armstrong, however, took a more cautious stance, expressing doubts about Evenepoel's expectations in his first Tour de France appearance. "The podium is not going to be there in his first participation. The Tour is not the Vuelta or some hard one-day race, it's a different beast," Armstrong said. "Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard are on another level. In his first Tour, he's not going to have that. He always seems to have a bad day and that's not possible in the Tour. I don't know if it can be masked or controlled, but it's not possible. So he'll come 30th, like in the Vuelta."