Greg LeMond, the Californian who planted the USA flag in the Tour de France record books a decade before fellow American Lance Armstrong, shared some decidedly harsh words about his compatriot with L'Equipe on the occasion of the Tour de France finale: "Armstrong says that Pogacar 'knows what the record' of Tours won is? What he claims is irrelevant, he didn't have Tadej's talent. Lance 'found' his talent at 28 years old... Everyone talks about watts, but the difference is also made by a high VO2 Max. You can't compare Pogacar's exceptionality to a guy who wins seven Tours de France with a low VO2 Max".

After being one of the great accusers of the Armstrong system twenty years ago, LeMond continues to take firm positions on the subject. On the Slovenian champion, he added: "He's part of that one in a million who is born with 3-4% more than everyone else. If he avoids injuries, he'll be able to carry on for another 3-4 years and win at least 7 Tours. Who will be able to compete with him? Maybe Paul Seixas, who is truly impressive".