2019 Tour de Suisse

[JosephK]

Re:

This tells nothing about Bernal. For all people asking. What do you expect?
He is still behind his top form. Remember he has had no racing days since Catalonia and then he crashed.

I was expecting something like this TBH.

Yes, if he is still building form, then today's performance looks strong & solid.

 

[roundabout]

Re:

Going by the results, a few interesting performances:

Benoot 8th at 44"
Kamna 13th at 52" (was he in the break?)
Aru 15th at 1'11" (not there yet but promising)

Schelling was more impressive than them, but then again he was aiming to show himself on this stage

 

[HelloDolly]

Its hard to take anything from one MTF but Dennis was very near Bernal in the end....hardly world class beating

The other thing is most rider (except Giro guys) have not raced in an age and come from altitude so need time to get into the swing of things

 

[Velolover2]

Bernal should have won the stage. This was supposed to be a safe win. Ineos doesn't have the top climbing squad but they could have worked more intensively on the flat part to reduce the gap.

I hope he can win the upcoming stage but it's way more difficult.

 

[search]

Re: Re:

Going by the results, a few interesting performances:

Benoot 8th at 44"
Kamna 13th at 52" (was he in the break?)
Aru 15th at 1'11" (not there yet but promising)

Schelling was more impressive than them, but then again he was aiming to show himself on this stage

still a great showing from him though. Let's hope it'll be enough to get the step-up back to WT/PCT level he was aiming for.

 

[Velolover2]

Even if he wins the overall, it must be frustrating for Bernal not to win stages when he knows he is the best climber in the race.

Same thing happened in Paris-Nice.

 

[search]

Re:

Bernal should have won the stage. This was supposed to be a safe win. Ineos doesn't have the top climbing squad but they could have worked more intensively on the flat part to reduce the gap.

Doull crashed early on, so they were left with only Rowe contributing to the chase, by the look of it. But yeah, in hinsight they should have brought Swift and/or Castroviejo to the front early on instead of saving them for the climb.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

Even if he wins the overall, it must be frustrating for Bernal not to win stages when he knows he is the best climber in the race.

Same thing happened in Paris-Nice.

You could be talking about Landa

How long before #freeBernal I wonder

Ineos needed to ride sooner on the flat and cut the time to break today ...EF & Movistar rode ..not sure for who ...but they did

 

[Nirvana]

The first time we saw Bernal looked like he was launched from a bazooka but looking at the gaps (and who are the first behind) wasn't impressive at all and maybe was only the effect of the terrible camera work.
It's only the first MTF but looks like Dauphine level was higher.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

The first time we saw Bernal looked like he was launched from a bazooka but looking at the gaps (and who are the first behind) wasn't impressive at all and maybe was only the effect of the terrible camera work.
It's only the first MTF but looks like Dauphine level was higher.

I am not a 100% sure Dauphine level was higher (better climbers in Dauphine yes) but alot of riders still not top till Tour ..that's why we see so many Giro guys up there

Dennis was impressive today but we know he can ride these kind of climbs well ...its in the 3rd week and the multiple climbs where he falls away

 

[The Barb]

Re:

Bernal should have won the stage. This was supposed to be a safe win. Ineos doesn't have the top climbing squad but they could have worked more intensively on the flat part to reduce the gap.

I hope he can win the upcoming stage but it's way more difficult.

I tried to warn you ...

Ineos got everything they needed out of the stage without depleting their domestique resources.

 

[Lequack]

Supposedly he's listed @ 61kg so 5.7 W/kg.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

Bernal should have won the stage. This was supposed to be a safe win. Ineos doesn't have the top climbing squad but they could have worked more intensively on the flat part to reduce the gap.

I hope he can win the upcoming stage but it's way more difficult.

I tried to warn you ...

Ineos got everything they needed out of the stage without depleting their domestique resources.

Actually I think it says far more about Tolhoek.

He did something like a 5,7 wkg climb after a break and held the gap pretty much with the Ineos helpers the same from the moment he went solo, only when the favorites launched he lost time quickly...

They underestimated the little guy

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Even if he wins the overall, it must be frustrating for Bernal not to win stages when he knows he is the best climber in the race.

Same thing happened in Paris-Nice.

You could be talking about Landa

How long before #freeBernal I wonder

Ineos needed to ride sooner on the flat and cut the time to break today ...EF & Movistar rode ..not sure for who ...but they did

Movistar would be riding for Soler.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

They underestimated the little guy

Like i said, he didn't (or barely) slow down. Kept his pace up. I think a lot of people understimated him tbh. He always struck me as less consistent than Bouwman (don't know if that's just an impression of mine) but he rode a great race today, and completely deserved it. As much as i like Bernal, i'm glad he didn't catch Tolhoek. Maybe Ineos were a bit too confident.

 

[Robert5091]

Bernal's taking of the leader's jersey was not news, though it seems he's still not 100% given the competiton (welcome back Fab Fabio!). Enric Mas was expected to do better, and Pozzovivo did well after his Giro.

 

[staubsauger]

Impressive win by Tolhoek indeed. Went Pantani style right from the bottom of the climb and constantly pushed it from the front until every competitor was finally dropped! Although Pantani himself of course never went right from the bottom of the Flumserberg, but rather took advantage from the rivalry between Zülle & Tonkov when he launched his winning move back in 1995!

Bernal took the golden jersey which was everything he had to do yesterday. Today though, Kid Bernal really needs to announce himself on the St. Gotthard in order to fork both victory of the 2019 Tour of Switzerland and the mtf! Dennis still is close. Something not only Bernal, but especially other climbers like Pozzovivo & Hirt need to change before Saturday's time trial.

A little disappointed by Frank who actually looked quite strong with his aggressive racing the past days. He was gutted himself on SRF after the stage, stating that he to win a stage now, as overall victory is out of reach. Respectively that it always was on his cards to either be able to really fight for overall glory or concentrate to finally take a stage win at his home race. If Bernal secures the golden jersey on St. Gotthard I guess Sundays Alpes circuit might be a good chance for Frank if he makes it into the breakaway with a teammate!

Eventually St. Gotthard really needs to be Kid Bernal's fist big mountain stage victory in the golden jersey. Hence why he needs to launch himself early on instead of this last 3k attacks we've seen from him so far!

 

[search]

Today could be a good day for the breakaway as well though. Yesterday it only (almost) came back together because EF was chasing all day - now with all duties on the shoulders of a fairly weak Ineos team, I'd think it will be difficult for Bernal to compete for the stage win

 

[staubsauger]

Maybe AG2R mysteriously helps chasing and gets a free ride for Frank on Sunday or for Bardet at the TdF once he has lost dozens of time in the TT anyway.

 

[Pharazon]

is coverage of this race always awful or is it just this year?

 

[Mayomaniac]

The cobbled MTF could bother some lightweight climbers who are always climbing out of the saddle, I'm thinking of someone like Pozzovivo.

 

[Nirvana]

Pozzovivo is not bad on the cobbles as far we know, last year he was the only GC rider that finished in the very reduced group with the sprinters in Rome when Dumoulin and Froome asked for neutralization and softpedaled to the finish saying that was "too hard and dangerous" and also the only teammate to stay with Nibali on the cobbles at the Tour despite there were other riders designed for that role. I think he could have problem only if wet due to wheel slipping like happened on the Finestre with the muddy sterrato.

 

[sir fly]

So it's going to be between Sagan, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke, Benoot...?

 

[Laplaz]

Re:

So it's going to be between Sagan, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke, Benoot...?

No way. Pozzo will outsprint everyone on the cobbles.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

So it's going to be between Sagan, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke, Benoot...?

No way. Pozzo will outsprint everyone on the cobbles.

Only if he survives the echelons...