"Pogacar would have blown all of us - Pantani, Armstrong, and me - out of the water" - Jan Ullrich can't get over Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France domination
CyclingWednesday, 29 July 2026 at 10:45
Tadej Pogacar put in his best-ever performance at the Tour de France this summer, according to former Tour winner Jan Ullrich. The world champion made it five titles, joining four other riders in holding the record for the most general classification wins at La Grand Boucle.
Dominating the race, he held the yellow jersey from stage six right through to Paris and boasted a lead of over seven minutes in the final week over Remco Evenepoel in second place.
Ullrich looked back on the Tour as the ultimate signal of the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader's capabilities. For the German legend, his full-throttle climbing is something that struck him while watching. Thinking back to his days of racing, he believes Pogacar would've put the best of that era to the sword just as emphatically.
"This tour was a superlative tour," Ullrich said on his podcast "Ulle & Rick".
"He really showed what he's capable of. That was his best performance in the Tour de France. He just starts riding and goes full throttle all the way to the top, and that's what Pogacar can do."
Pogacar would dominate Ullrich, Pantani and Armstrong
Aside from Pogacar's all-conquering five stage wins, Ullrich was on the edge of his seat as Mathieu van der Poel burned Pogacar off his wheel in the final stage to beat the sprinters by a whisker and take a second stage win of the race - the perfect ending in the Tour script.
"It couldn't have been more exciting. I was screaming on the couch. The script couldn't have been written better. This finale was a perfect fit for this superlative Tour de France."
Ullrich believes that Pogacar could push it further and put further distance between himself and his competitors. Noting that most legends are in agreement on his status as the best-ever, he thinks that a modern Pogacar would humble himself and commanding racers like Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong.
"He could also win the Tour de France with a ten-minute lead over second place if he wanted to.
"The experts agree. Tadej Pogacar has changed cycling and is the best of all time. That's my opinion too. A modern-day Tadej Pogacar would have blown all of us - Pantani, Armstrong, and me - out of the water back then."
Tadej Pogacar dominated the 2026 Tour de France
Cycling's rapid development
Why is there such a big difference in Pogacar's dominance to the best of the past? Ullrich sees cycling's rapid development over the past decade as a big reason. From in-race nutrition, training focuses, cooling techniques and equipment, the German puts it simply: if he lived the lifestyle of the modern cyclist, he too would have been a stronger rider.
Ullrich admitted to doping throughout his career in 2023. A CAS ruling in 2012 saw all his victories from 2005 onward stripped, although his 1997 Tour de France win remained unaffected due to the statute of limitations.
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“I wonder why we didn’t think of wearing ice cubes in our jerseys to cool ourselves down earlier? Furthermore, I rode a third of my annual kilometers for no reason. I could have saved myself that.”
Ullrich said: "I'm sure I could have been much, much better today than back then. The version from back then, without doping, could definitely have been much, much better with today's technology."
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- Last year Visma kept attacking Pogi...no good... they themselves ran out of fuel. Even in week three, when Pogi had an injured knee, they couldn't break him. This year they tried attacking late...no good...Pogi demolished them. It's hard to find a new stragedy when an extraordinary rider- The GOAT... is not one, but two steps higher then everyone else. Pogi can only lose if he crashes and hurts himself... becomes ill... or becomes old in the process, when his youth and passion for racing fades away.PogiSloFans29-07-2026
- Quite the contrary!MajorPayne29-07-2026
- Greg Lemond doesn't have to bash Armstrong's legacy, Lance is bashing his own legacy. It doesn't matter what Greg Lemond or commentators are saying about Tadej Pogacar and Lance Armstrong. More important is, what Pogi and Lance are saying about each other, and that is: Pogi is not saying anything, he just doesn't care, he wants to race. But what is Lance saying: Lance Armstrong: "Tadej Pogacar is the best of all time. I don’t even have to go that far back. He can simply do everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s a flat stage, if there are cobbles, if we’re racing in the high mountains or on the white roads of Strade Bianche. He doesn’t care about the time of year either. He just wants to race. He is, quite simply, the best of all time. Sometimes people compare my career to his and ask where I’d stack up against him. It doesn’t matter. This guy would beat the crap out of Lance Armstrong. I’m serious. For me, he is the most dominant athlete in the world. He knows what the real record is. He’ll keep going. And I hope he gets it. I don’t mind either way. I’m an athlete. You play, and records get broken from time to time. They’re there to be broken."PogiSloFans29-07-2026
- OK @urbantoreador, now don't you get me wrong. I agree with some things you wrote in your comment, but some of it was far off. Your statement, that "Pogi doesn't embody the same level of character as a racer quite like MVdp."... You see, this is utter BS!!! What about Pogi's character in the high mountains, or MSR, or Tour of Flanders, or even Paris Roubaix, even though he hasn't won it yet? The "fight" they have in Flanders is epic, but I would never say MvDP doesn't embody the same level of character as Pogi in this race. After they go over the Kwaremont for the third time, Pogi usually breaks him... but hell yes, MvDP has character, he just loses, just like Pogi occasionally loses. And one more thing, stages 18, 19 and 20 in TdF were crazy, and Pogi worked his ass off in these races, while MvDP was taking it easy and preparing for Montmartre. Now do you see the difference? Never again say that Pogi doesn't embody character. The biggest cyclists of our time that have character are Pogi, MvDP, Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen, Carapaz, and Remco. OK, maybe I left some out, unintentionally, but that's my take. PS: Cyclists, cycling experts, cycling podcasters, the media are saying that we are watching historical greatness by watching Pogi. He's writing his own history, changing cycling, some say he's the best athlete in the world. He just loves racing and respects everone that beats him and the fans love him. He embodies a lot of character, maybe more than any other sportsman.PogiSloFans29-07-2026
- I think ultimately they'll come up with a new rule that prohibits Pogacar explicitly to ride for example 2 out of 3 GTs per year, only 2 or 3 classics, and either the Europeans or the Worlds...Lobz7729-07-2026
- ads don‘t bother me thanks to ad blocker …Ketterechts29-07-2026
- Exactly. That's what I've been saying all along. Pogi would have lost and he knew it, so he wanted Mathieu to win since they were working/pulling together. Pogi pulled as long as he could, then moved over to the right side, Mathieu did the rest. They respect each other, they love racing each other and are also pretty good friends.PogiSloFans29-07-2026
- Froome found his "talent" at 28 with his first TDF win. A no talent nobody in the peloton for years. And SKY, jiffy bag, steroids, the doctor(s), and Froome caught with double the permitted limit of the asthma drug salbutamol, they paid for rigged "science" to justify it , then published the "results" in a pay to play "science" journal. Yeah, he was clean. HAHAHAHAHAAAA!Cyclingnut29-07-2026
- Read Zonnefeld's nonsense regularly ... he lives in a fantasy land!slappers6629-07-2026
- Indurain was another limited talent rider that EPO juiced up to the max. Look at his record before doping big time.Cyclingnut29-07-2026
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