"The cannibal of modern cycling" - Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel agree Tadej Pogacar had 'best season in the history of 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".