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Bernal vs. Pogacar vs. Evenepoel

A place to discuss and compare the three most talented GC riders amongst the new generation.

Bernal: the man for long climbs at high altitude
Pogacar: the man with climbing punch and a Contador attacking attitude
Evenepoel: not a man but a god ;-)

These three riders will likely rule the GTs over the next decade.

For me, who ends up on top at the end for history's sake, will largely depend on the direction that GT routes take.

For instance, I can see Pogacar winning this year's tour as it fits his talents, just as last year's fit Bernal's.

I hope for a return to some equilibrium in ITT to MTF in GTs. If so Remco will rule.

However, I am happiest that a 20, 21 and 22 year old can (again) be mentioned as favorites in pro cycling. I take this as extremely good news on many levels.
 
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Let's get some courses like the 2017 TDF so we can have a real battle between the 3.

Have about 115 km of dead flat ITT, but balance it out with the most barbaric mountain stages, some at high altitude, one can imagine. Each rider would have stages that play to his strengths
 
The problem with threads like these is that is completely excludes every other rider from the equation, while there are many more exciting riders on the rise, as well as riders who don't come in with a bang but steadily improve year by year.
Agreed.
Also, for me the only one that has confirmed his status so far is Bernal. What Pogacar and Evenepoel are doing, is impressive, and it's looking very good for sure, but it's still possible for Pogacar to end up being a Valverde type of rider (winning a lot, but not a lot of GT's) and Evenepoel not turning out to be an elite climber or not made for 3 weeks after all... who knows. There is no real indication for thinking that they couldn't turn out to be GT dominators, but on the other hand, still plenty could go wrong or turn out differently.

For instance, i also saw a very strong Gaudu in the TDF. Imho, uphill he seemed better than Pogacar so far, but his ITT is worse and he doesn't seem to have the same punch either.
 
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Agreed.
Also, for me the only one that has confirmed his status so far is Bernal. What Pogacar and Evenepoel are doing, is impressive, and it's looking very good for sure, but it's still possible for Pogacar to end up being a Valverde type of rider (winning a lot, but not a lot of GT's) and Evenepoel not turning out to be an elite climber or not made for 3 weeks after all... who knows. There is no real indication for thinking that they couldn't turn out to be GT dominators, but on the other hand, still plenty could go wrong or turn out differently.

For instance, i also saw a very strong Gaudu in the TDF. Imho, uphill he seemed better than Pogacar so far, but his ITT is worse and he doesn't seem to have the same punch either.

I'd say Pogacar proved himself over 3 weeks last year in the Vuelta. Winning a few stages and finishing 3rd at age 20 is proving oneself
 
I see how this will end. An outsider will come out of nowhere into the scene, like Froome, and destroy the field.


It's possible, but less likely now with all the data teams have. But some riders get a better cycling education in their teens than others and show themselves earlier, Team politics play a part too.

Froome's a exception. He comes from a country that has never produced a pro cyclist before or since. The equivalent of an ice hockey player coming from Bolivia.
 
Long article about (young to old): Evenepoel, Pogacar, Bernal, van der Poel, van Aert.



(original: https://legruppetto.fr/2020/01/longue-vie-a-la-jeunesse/)
 
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He proved himself to be an excellent and extremely talented rider. Not (yet) as a GT dominator for the next decade.

Logically you could say the same thing about Bernal then, he has only won one so far... we dont know if he will dominate the next decade. We can only assume that he will. The same thing could be said about Pog. I would say a podium in his first GT is proof enough, that he will be among the favorites when he lines up. That he can win. If he will dominate and win many is just speculation at this point. He has shown enough talent and results, that it would be foolish to say he wont though.

But one can never say for certain. Anything could happen in the next few years. Only time will tell. But I would say Bernal and Pog will be battling against each other in many GTs in the next few years. Maybe Evenepoel too. But we dont know yet. He is the only one that is an unknown right now.
 
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The main difference I see so far is that Evenepoel has been a phenom since he first got on a bike, Bernal apparently has amazing stats bodily. And Pogacar has appeared out of nowhere, going from a fairly decent U23 rider, then making massive strides in his Avenir year and then becoming a world beater immediately. At the same time as Roglic.
 
Logically you could say the same thing about Bernal then, he has only won one so far... we dont know if he will dominate the next decade. We can only assume that he will. The same thing could be said about Pog. I would say a podium in his first GT is proof enough, that he will be among the favorites when he lines up. That he can win. If he will dominate and win many is just speculation at this point. He has shown enough talent and results, that it would be foolish to say he wont though.

But one can never say for certain. Anything could happen in the next few years. Only time will tell. But I would say Bernal and Pog will be battling against each other in many GTs in the next few years. Maybe Evenepoel too. But we dont know yet. He is the only one that is an unknown right now.
I understand what you mean but winning the TDF isn't quite the same as getting a podium in the Vuelta. Winning the TDF is already above what guys like Dumoulin, Yates, Roglic, Quintana... achieved, while a podium in the Vuelta is still very much below that in terms of achievements. And while it's clear that Pogacar has certain qualities that Bernal doesn't have, we still need to see how he will evolve as a GT GC rider. Obviously i will not rule out (to the contrary) that he will still evolve and turn into a contender for Bernal, it is not set in stone either. He was 3rd in the least contested/prestigeous GT of the 3. That's still ways off of winning the most contested/prestigeous of the 3. Generally speaking, a 3rd spot in the Vuelta doesn't even buy you a top 10 in the TDF. So it will be very interesting to see how much Pogacar has progressed since last year.
 
The main difference I see so far is that Evenepoel has been a phenom since he first got on a bike, Bernal apparently has amazing stats bodily. And Pogacar has appeared out of nowhere, going from a fairly decent U23 rider, then making massive strides in his Avenir year and then becoming a world beater immediately. At the same time as Roglic.

Pogacar finished 5th in a 2.1 Tour of Slovenia in the first year out of the juniors.

Bernal finished 4th in the previous edition while being 8 months older at the time.
 
I assume you are referring to some plagued with the injury bug? Because that would apply to Egan as well. It seems to be a forgotten fact, but he was never even supposed to ride the TdF with Ineos last year. His season was aimed at leading Sky in the Giro.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/egan-bernal-well-on-road-to-recovery-after-missing-giro-ditalia/

I am guessing that he missed about a week of riding (don't know exactly when his injury happened) and was setting records already in May.

Not perfect, but not a big deal also
 
I assume you are referring to some plagued with the injury bug? Because that would apply to Egan as well. It seems to be a forgotten fact, but he was never even supposed to ride the TdF with Ineos last year. His season was aimed at leading Sky in the Giro.
Didn't stop him from being completely fine by Suisse.

I just don't subscribe to the notion that whoever wins the Tour is automatically the top dog in GTs. That is ignoring all context.

Evans wasn't top dog in 2011. Wiggins wasn't top dog in 2012 on any non idiotic route. Nibali wasn't considered top dog in 2014. Thomas wasn't top dog in 2018.

Dumoulin, Roglic, Froome all weren't there last year. Bernal got dropped every mountain stage before the 3rd week. 2nd place was his own teammate who also was nowhere in the Pyrenees. The strongest guy of the first 2 weeks DNF due to a freak injury.

I'm not saying Bernal isn't a favorite for the Tour this year. He is the #1 favorite now. But it's not just because he won the Tour that he's the favorite.
 

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