"The cannibal of modern cycling" - Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel agree Tadej Pogacar had 'best season in the history of cycling'
Cycling
In 2024 there are little doubts that the rider of the year is Tadej Pogacar. Despite the likes of Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel who won big and had quite successful years, the Slovenian was truly unmatched and Lance Armstrong believes no-one has ever had so much success in a year as he did.
Armstrong, in 'The Move' podcast is very clear that no one in history has done what the Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates has done this season and that arguing with his colleagues the best did not make much sense with a rider so superior to the rest: "He's a guy who has signed the best season in the history of cycling. There are other seasons that we start to choose which ones have been the best, but Pogacar's has been so special that there is no discussion."
Johan Bruyneel, Lance's former sports director at US Postal and a regular contributor to the podcast, emphasized the idea of Pogi's superiority since he began his campaign back in a now distant March in the dusty lands of Tuscany: "He started his show at Strade Bianche, with an attack with 80 kilometers to go. We had never seen anything like that. I think there were only a couple of races that he started wanting to win and didn't do it. It's just been the Pogacar show, it's hard to find different highlights."
Without saying that he is the best in history, Bruyneel does not mince words and puts him on a par with Eddy Merckx for what he is achieving and for the respect he instills in his great rivals such as Jonas Vingegaard:
"Of course the Giro, the Tour and the World Championships with which he completed the Triple Crown. We saw Vingegaard's coach say that we had to close the gap on Pogacar, that they could be facing an unbeatable rider. I think he is the cannibal of modern cycling".
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- It goes without saying that all the readers on this website are keen cycling fans and cyclists. We may have differing opinions on Lance Armstrong, but that is coloured by our knowledge of cycling history. However, for all the non-cycling public, all they know is Lance Armstrong and his story of cheating. The vast majority of the world do not even remember Eddy Merckyx and many don't know who Pogacar and Vingegaard are. Therefore, it is the truth that Lance Armstrong has been very damaging for our beloved sport of cycling. It even makes us cycling fans question the current generation of cyclists, which is so sad that we don't get to truly enjoy the sport any more because there will always be some doubts in the back of our minds.Pogboom29-12-2024
- Yes it is, 7.6% average, about 13% max.awp28-12-2024
- Puy de Dome was pretty steepvappaxbipmv28-12-2024
- I would pick billionaires next time.
ChoppyWarburton28-12-2024 - It is so awesome that Voit called attention to Voss' accomplishments. It is simply the fact of her remarkable ability that puts her in the class of Merckx
TRjens28-12-2024 - On the steeper stuff Jonas is a bit more efficient. He's dropped Tadej going back to the 2021 Tour on one occasion.awp28-12-2024
- i don’t care when he started doping. i really don’t even care THAT he started doping. and i certainly don’t care that he lied about doping. the history of cycling is chock-full of dopers, from charly gaul to merckx to kelly to contador and blah blah blah. and they ALL lied about it. but i really DO CARE that he treated everyone like AT BEST like expendable cogs in his winning machine, and at WORST like mortal enemies to be DESTROYED. it’s all that business that makes me dislike him. and i may be a suspicious and untrusting soul, but i really don’t trust that he’s changed in that way. that said, I’M certainly no one to give advice about moral virtue or from whom to seek it.OCexile28-12-2024
- Well said ! Kudos to you for bringing this up!frieders328-12-2024
- If he avoids losing any time to his competitors he would win every single race.Sweep28-12-2024
- He did nothing well without cheating. He was doping long before he entered professional cycling.Sweep28-12-2024