2019 Tour de Suisse

[Velolover2]

Tbh, it looked like Bernal was on a training ride.

He will be scary in the Tour.

 

[JosephK]

It turned out to be an entertaining stage. Chapeau to Carthy, Bernal, Dennis, and the battlers. Bernal is really a cool customer, and Dennis was surprisingly strong again on the mountains. Carthy . . . well, great stones!

For Dennis, could it be that he now needs to go back and work on his time-trialing?

 

[sir fly]

Carthy went high, took a huge amount of points and the stage.
Phenomenal ride.
He was excellent at the Giro too, but today he's been unbelievable.

Dennis looks good.
Bahrain Merida will be an interesting team at the Tour, to say so.
As will Ineos with Bernal in the shape he is and defending champion.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Just got home in time it seems like. Whats the verdict on the stage? I have no problem with 3 hours long stages if they are designed like this. Gonna watch it now despite knowing the results, but this area in Switzerland is just epic.

 

[Leinster]

It turned out to be an entertaining stage. Chapeau to Carthy, Bernal, Dennis, and the battlers. Bernal is really a cool customer, and Dennis was surprisingly strong again on the mountains. Carthy . . . well, great stones!

For Dennis, could it be that he now needs to go back and work on his time-trialing?

It could only have been made slightly more entertaining had Bernal needed time from Dennis rather than vice versa.

 

[johnymax]

Impressive race for Dennis. I've never seen him climbing this well. I thought his try to become a GC rider was over but he's done a big step in the right direction. Now a GT is a different beast.

Congrats to Carthy and Bernal.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Stage

GC

 

[Robert5091]

Chapeau Carthy - from start to finish in the lead. Shame Bernal did not need to make up time as he seemed to be well within himself. Dennis 2nd - week's big surprise.

 

[luckyboy]

Carthy's ride was great but once the Spilak, Aru, Soler group didn't make any progress catching him on San Gottardo, everything was already decided. Dennis, Hirt and Spilak gave it a bit of a go, I guess.

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Tbh, it looked like Bernal was on a training ride.

He will be scary in the Tour.

He'll not get the chance to go for himself I believe. Only as a last resort.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Tbh, it looked like Bernal was on a training ride.

He will be scary in the Tour.

He'll not get the chance to go for himself I believe. Only as a last resort.

You really think so? To me it looks like Thomas and Bernal both will be captains and let the legs decide who will win the race of the two. And Bernal could very well get a good headstart at La Planche considering Thomas's crash in Suisse.

 

[luckyboy]

Bernal just said that it's all for Thomas and he has no problem with it.

"I don't choose to say that I'm the favourite. In any case, I will go with G – he will be our leader. I will try to help him. If he's better than me, for sure I will help him. I don't have any problems to help him; I'm just 22 years old so I think that I have a lot of Tours in front of me."

 

[Red Rick]

I like how there's not a single doubt in the world Thomas will be in great shape after diong nothing all year and crashing out of his most important prep race

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I like how there's not a single doubt in the world Thomas will be in great shape after diong nothing all year and crashing out of his most important prep race

Seems very odd to say the least. On the other hand, whoever they decide to go for will probably win the race, so why not choose Thomas? He is more experienced and obviously is British.

 

[Rollthedice]

Everybody for Geee! Then boom, crash, bang. Vegan Bernal takes over.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

I like how there's not a single doubt in the world Thomas will be in great shape after diong nothing all year and crashing out of his most important prep race

Seems very odd to say the least. On the other hand, whoever they decide to go for will probably win the race, so why not choose Thomas? He is more experienced and obviously is British.

Yes, the British riders are the priority and he's the defending champion, so the pre-race hierarchy is pretty clear.
On the other hand, it would be a mistake to hold Bernal back, or sacrifice him if Thomas' struggling.

 

[KZD]

Re: Re:

Tbh, it looked like Bernal was on a training ride.

He will be scary in the Tour.

He'll not get the chance to go for himself I believe. Only as a last resort.

You really think so? To me it looks like Thomas and Bernal both will be captains and let the legs decide who will win the race of the two. And Bernal could very well get a good headstart at La Planche considering Thomas's crash in Suisse.

Looking at stage 6 I really think the roles might reverse there.
I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas loses close to a minute to the best there (including Bernal).
I think that a Bernal win would be a great marketing operation for Ineos since it would be the first Colombian (and Latin American) winning there which would increase the popularity of the team in that region of the world.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

I like how there's not a single doubt in the world Thomas will be in great shape after diong nothing all year and crashing out of his most important prep race

Seems very odd to say the least. On the other hand, whoever they decide to go for will probably win the race, so why not choose Thomas? He is more experienced and obviously is British.

Exactly! Team leadership at Ineos is decided on passport. Diet and shape follows from that.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Egan could do to G
what
Alberto did to Lance
(would be fun to witness)

 

[Valv.Piti]

That would really ruin the Tour for me if that's the case. I hope the first MTF will be raced super aggressively, its hard enough to do decent damage.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Tbh, it looked like Bernal was on a training ride.

He will be scary in the Tour.

He'll not get the chance to go for himself I believe. Only as a last resort.

You really think so? To me it looks like Thomas and Bernal both will be captains and let the legs decide who will win the race of the two. And Bernal could very well get a good headstart at La Planche considering Thomas's crash in Suisse.

Looking at stage 6 I really think the roles might reverse there.
I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas loses close to a minute to the best there (including Bernal).

Bernal will stay with him until the end. Then he'll do a Carapaz.

 

[HelloDolly]

Egan will do to G what Froome did to Wiggo

Ride for him but look the best

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

I like how there's not a single doubt in the world Thomas will be in great shape after diong nothing all year and crashing out of his most important prep race

Seems very odd to say the least. On the other hand, whoever they decide to go for will probably win the race, so why not choose Thomas? He is more experienced and obviously is British.

Think he should just say *** it and rip it on La Planche.

What are they gonna do, take him out of the race?

 

[HelloDolly]

Superb by Carthy

And Dennis looked really good too ...given Bernal is a climbing sensation

 

[Valv.Piti]

Imagine for a second how ridiculous this Tour would be if Froome wasn't injured. The complete and utter horror