Vingegaard gets compared to Armstrong, while Contador and Basso reminisce about their old rival: "They supported him"

Lance Armstrong is the most controversial name in (recent) cycling history. The American dominated the sport during his heyday while causing a lot of damage, but others talk about the human, sympathetic side of The Boss. Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso were Armstrong's biggest rivals and reminisce about the notorious Texan.

Contador was a member of the Astana team when Armstrong returned to the world of cycling in 2009. Johan Bruyneel, his sports director and mentor at US Postal Service, was later the sports director of the Kazakh team, so Armstrong's choice was quickly made. It marked the beginning of a problematic relationship between Contador and Armstrong, with tensions occasionally running high. "It was complicated, but that's normal," the Spaniard said about the rivalry in that year's Tour de France on the El Pinganillo podcast. "We both wanted to win the race and knew it would cause friction. Managing two riders with clear ideas and personalities makes living together complicated."

El Pistolero was the peloton's number one GC rider at the time, with final victories in the 2007 Tour de France and the 2008 Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. Yet he felt that the team management was more supportive of Armstrong. "The team was all about Discovery," he noted. "It was Astana, of course, but they supported him."

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Johan Bruyneel and Alberto Contador, not a happy marriage.

Psychological warfare was 'extra motivation'

The Spanish climber also saw that Armstrong not only engaged in rivalry on the bike. Psychological warfare was a trademark of the Texan, and he occasionally criticized his teammates. "He started on Twitter at the beginning of the year, in Paris-Nice, with the comment 'a lot of talent but little experience.' That was extra motivation in the end." Contador and a small group of people within the team set out to prepare for the Tour as they saw fit and to distance themselves from the Armstrong camp.

When Le Grand Départ was just around the corner, the Madrileen entered a dialog with his rival. "The day before, I went to his room to talk. We were used to stress and pressure, but our teammates were not. It was not a comfortable situation at the table. For the well-being of both of us, I tried to handle the situation as smoothly as possible, but also for the team's well-being. Unfortunately, it was all to no avail." The unpleasant atmosphere persisted for three weeks, with Contador ultimately emerging victorious: he won the Tour, and Armstrong came in third, more than five minutes behind his teammate.

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Basso: "For me, Armstrong has done something extraordinary"

Basso was one of America's biggest competitors in the first years after the turn of the century. In 2004, he came third in the Tour de France; a year later, he even moved to second place. However, the Italian has only good things to say about Armstrong due to a shared challenge they both faced. In 2015, Ivan the Terrible participated in the Tour de France, where he crashed hard. During a CT scan in the hospital, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. "Without that accident, I might have discovered it too late," Basso told Marca.

Cancer had been a factor in the life of the two-time Giro winner for some time. His mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer eleven years before his diagnosis. Armstrong reached out to him. "For me, Lance Armstrong is the man who, after he had survived a tumor, personally sent a doctor to Italy to try to cure my mother. I will leave it to others to make their judgment about his lies and his doping use, but for me, he has done something extraordinary."

Basso was also candid about his doping past in an interview with the Spanish newspaper. He was suspended for two years in 2007 after his involvement in Operación Puerto, but he has always denied using banned substances. However, he did admit that he had tried it. And that, according to him, is just as bad. "I didn't have time to use doping. But I know what I did, recognize my mistakes, and am ashamed. But there are other, more profound reasons for what I did."

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Danielson sees a miniature Armstrong in Vingegaard

Okay, the Armstrong era is well and truly behind us. Right? The American has left such an impression on the sport that he will never be completely forgotten. Comparisons will always be made, and Tom Danielson made a very special one after the time trial of the Tour of the Algarve. He saw the stage and overall winner Jonas Vingegaard as a kind of reincarnation of his former leader, with whom he shared a team in 2005.

"Great to see Vingegaard ride strongly to win the TT stage and take the overall," the American wrote on social media. "He looks like a miniature Lance Armstrong on the TT bike with his position, body, and style. His cadence also looked excellent; he was pretty high and adapting well to all the terrain changes (and there were a lot!). The Vingegaard TT performance shows that while far from 100 percent, he has been putting a lot of work in towards leveling up his TT. Smart strategy IMO, especially on paper, given the classics focus from Tadej for the first part of the season."  

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