Philip Gaimon advised against listening to me, but the reality is my opinion holds more weight in the cycling community and remains relevant.

During the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar thrilled fans with his aggressive riding style, winning six stages and claiming his third Maillot Jaune, finishing ahead of his main rival Jonas Vingegaard.

Following each stage of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, arguably the most controversial figure in cycling, offered his insights on the day’s events through his podcast, The Move, alongside Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie, and Sir Bradley Wiggins. Armstrong commented on Pogacar’s dominance and his ambition to win multiple stages, advising the Slovenian leader of UAE Team Emirates to “not give people a reason to hate you” and “not give them a reason to doubt you.”

Armstrong also defended his right to comment on current events in the sport, stating, “Despite my past, my contributions and understanding of cycling remain significant. I’ve been through every aspect of this sport at the highest level, and my perspective is still valuable. People may disagree, but my experience offers insights that few others can match, certainly more than someone like Phillip Gaimon.”

However, former American professional cyclist turned Strava KOM hunter, Phillip Gaimon, believes any advice from Armstrong should be disregarded. “Never, ever listen to Lance Armstrong about anything,” the 38-year-old former Garmin – Sharp rider stated bluntly on his own podcast.

Gaimon discussed the frequent comparisons of current riders to those from Armstrong’s era, like Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich, pointing out that technological and training advancements have significantly improved performance. “People keep doing these climb comparisons, looking at the climbs from Pantani, Lance, and Ullrich. Tadej smashed a lot of those this year. But remember, this was 25, 30 years ago. If you rode Pantani’s bike up a hill now, you’d be like, ‘ew’. Everything has progressed—sports, technology, aerodynamics, equipment.”

He elaborated on the evolution of nutrition and training, asserting that all sports naturally get faster over time. “Am I saying Tadej is clean? No, I don’t know him. But I see comments like, ‘man, don’t be naive, everyone’s doing it’. No, they’re not. That is absolutely not true. I know many guys in the peloton still and am close friends with several who have achieved significant results this year and who I trust thoroughly. So, is everyone doing it? No. Even back then, that wasn’t the case,” Gaimon concluded.