Lance Armstrong is shocked by UAE and Visma tactics at the Tour de France: 'You can throw that out the window now'

The third stage of the Tour de France was initially seen as an ideal opportunity for the breakaway riders. In the end, Tadej Pogacar’s drive to win made it a day for the general classification. On THEMOVE, Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Bradley Wiggins, and Johan Bruyneel suggest that this might not be such a bad outcome for Visma | Lease a Bike after all.

Jonas Vingegaard may have lost the yellow jersey to Pogacar, but that also means he no longer has to fulfill the obligations that come with leading the Tour de France. In the 'Armstrong generation', it would never have happened at this stage of the Tour de France for Pogacar to take the yellow jersey from a rival in this way.

"It doesn't matter what our generation's tactical playbook said about pacing yourself over three weeks; you can throw that out the window now. This is a whole different game," Armstrong explains in his podcast. “The way the Tour de France is raced these days is completely different from how it was in our time. Big teams like Visma and UAE no longer hold their riders back,” Hincapie adds.

"If they see a chance to win the stage, they'll just go for it. In the third stage of the Tour, with three weeks still to go, we really would never have done that back in the day," Hincapie continues. “I told Johan just yesterday: think about what the most logical tactic would be for today, then flip it 180 degrees—and that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

And so it came to pass, because instead of an early breakaway, it turned into a day for the general classification contenders. “I don’t remember Team Sky ever racing like that, or our team back then. It’s the third stage of the Tour de France; we still have three weeks to go. We would never have done something like that,” Hincapie reiterates.

He describes it as the “reverse logic” theory. “Over the past two years, Visma has made the race harder and harder each time, which actually made it easier for Pogačar to break away. Why not try a different approach for a change?” Hincapie wonders aloud.

He therefore sees the fact that Pogacar’s team had to work several times in the opening stages to bring Matteo Jorgenson back as an opportunity for Vingegaard later in the race. “Let UAE set a fast pace. Maybe their riders will start to run out of energy, making them more vulnerable to attacks.”