2019 Tour de Suisse

[Red Rick]

Dennis been working on his climbing too much

 

[luckyboy]

Can't believe he kept it so close there. Great ride.

 

[Rollthedice]

Apart from the curious case of Tom Dumoulin, that fine balance between TT smasher and world class climber can only be achieved under Sky management. Rohan is quite far.

 

[JosephK]

Great TT by Bernal -- a reminder that he is more than a decent time-trialer in addition to being a very strong climber. Unlike some of the pure climber GC hopefuls for grand tours, Bernal does not have a time-trialing Achilles heel.

 

[sir fly]

What we're gonna do tomorrow, then?
Neither one of the three running races seems like it'll provide excitement.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

What we're gonna do tomorrow, then?
Neither one of the three running races seems like it'll provide excitement.

We can spend the whole day complaining about the excess of TT kms in stage races.

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Apart from the curious case of Tom Dumoulin, that fine balance between TT smasher and world class climber can only be achieved under Sky management. Rohan is quite far.

Yes, he made a good go of it for this stage race, but trying to make it work for 3 weeks would be even more of a daunting task.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Tomorrow will be a fight for second place.

Ineos is in complete control.

 

[luckyboy]

Re:

What we're gonna do tomorrow, then?
Neither one of the three running races seems like it'll provide excitement.

Maybe Bernal will smash everyone again for the fun of it.

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Tomorrow will be a fight for second place.

Ineos is in complete control.

It'll be a training ride for Bernal.

Since it's not a mountain-top finish, I'm not sure he'll solo to the win -- but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[roundabout]

Re:

Tomorrow will be a fight for second place.

Ineos is in complete control.

I agree and yet it feels weird to write that about a team that has Swift, Elissonde and Castroviejo as main climbing help on a stage with 3 HC climbs

 

[luckyboy]

Bernal-Thomas dynamic at the Tour should be interesting anyway. Can imagine a Froome-Wiggins situation play out unless there are other guys stronger than Thomas... Bernal is clearly the best climber there though.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Tomorrow will be a fight for second place.

Ineos is in complete control.

I agree and yet it feels weird to write that about a team that has Swift, Elissonde and Castroviejo as main climbing help on a stage with 3 HC climbs

Are you suggesting that Bernal should have a weak team here, on paper, or that the competition is just weak?

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Bernal-Thomas dynamic at the Tour should be interesting anyway. Can imagine a Froome-Wiggins situation play out unless there are other guys stronger than Thomas... Bernal is clearly the best climber there though.

Makes me think what would've been if Froome hasn't dropped out of contention...
Ineos would've held the keys of Tour ratings.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Bernal 11th in a pan flat 19km time trial, losing less than 2s a km to Dennis.

Yikes.

 

[movingtarget]

More about Dennis having an off day I think. Bernal has the race won and Dennis should have enough time to hang on for second.

 

[staubsauger]

In parts this ITT had a highly technical parcours and it's there where Bernal took incredible risks to secure his golden jersey!

Bernal certainly owns Brailsford a new pack of underpants after nearly slipping away in that corner. Even Lampaert visibly shrugged.

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

Tomorrow will be a fight for second place.

Ineos is in complete control.

I agree and yet it feels weird to write that about a team that has Swift, Elissonde and Castroviejo as main climbing help on a stage with 3 HC climbs

Are you suggesting that Bernal should have a weak team here, on paper, or that the competition is just weak?

Both. The 3 mentioned produced a bigger selection than I expected on Sankt Gotthard and I really don't see where a sustained attack on Bernal will come from tomorrow.

But ok, it's a different day and a different nature of the stage tomorrow, so I hope that I am wrong and Bernal would have to work a bit harder.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Everyone forgot about Betancur losing less than a minute. Easy stage victory tomorrow.

Edit: That Aurélien Paret is quite strong. Never heard of him before, but he seems like a very decent climber..

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Dennis been working on his climbing too much

And the Yates's have been working on their TT-ing too much

Dennis did seem to pay for yesterday's efforts but he's 2nd for [bleep]s sake! Dennis! :surprised:

Bernal did TT well apart from one very dodgy corner and being the best climber here, is rightly in yellow.

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Bernal 11th in a pan flat 19km time trial, losing less than 2s a km to Dennis.

Yikes.

Really strong TT for Bernal, but maybe not eye-popping. Soler rode almost the same time as Bernal.

 

[roundabout]

Soler - team given weight 68 kg
Bernal - no weight on the team site, but probably low 60's at a glance (I am the same height as him so it should be a relatively reasonable guess)

 

[rick james]

the fight for the podium should make it interesting tomorrow

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

the fight for the podium should make it interesting tomorrow

There are a few fights all the way down to 12th place ...maybe Pozzo or Mas or Spilak will try something early ?

I think Konrad will get podium as I cannot see Hirt or Benoot unseating him..

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Soler - team given weight 68 kg
Bernal - no weight on the team site, but probably low 60's at a glance (I am the same height as him so it should be a relatively reasonable guess)

Yes, low sixties for Bernal.
I was of the same weight once, so am pretty accurate in the estimate.