Tadej Pogačar shrugs his shoulders when confronted with Lance Armstrong's Tour record comments

Lance Armstrong releases his THE MOVE podcast daily during the Tour de France, in which he sheds light on the events of the Tour. After stage nine, the American, whose seven overall victories were stripped following his doping confessions, spoke about the record that Tadej Pogačar was approaching. A few days later, Pogačar also responded to this.

For many people, it’s a foregone conclusion that Tadej Pogacar will win the Tour. This is also true for Armstrong, who sees the Slovenian joining the ranks of Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anguetil, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain. They, too, have each won the Tour five times.

"He's going to win this Tour, isn't he? His fifth. And after the finish, we're all going to hear—including ourselves—that Tadej Pogačar has tied the all-time record for Tour victories and joined that exclusive club of five," Armstrong said.

"Well, guess what? He doesn't believe that. He doesn't believe that at all. He knows damn well what the real record is," Armstrong says, referring to the seven times he rode into Paris in the yellow jersey between 1999 and 2005. "So don’t count on him taking a year off after that."

Armstrong—the unofficial record holder—hopes that Pogacar will surpass him. “It doesn’t matter; I’m an athlete: athletes play the game, and sometimes you break a record or set a new one. After all, records are there to be broken.”

"Tadej Pogačar knows exactly what the record is, so there's no way he's going to sit this one out. I really hope he goes for it," says the American.

It was Bradley Wiggins who provoked this outburst from Armstrong, claiming he could see a time in the near future when Pogačar would sit out the Tour de France to give his protégée, Del Toro, a chance to win. "Your'e 100% wrong about that", said Armstrong.

After stage 13, Pogacar was asked directly what he thought following Armstrong's remarks. 'I was asked this question this morning. I don't know, I can't say anything about it. I'm not chasing records, I just want to finish this Tour in Paris with the yellow jersey, that is my main goal,' CyclingWeekly quotes from the press conference in Belfort.