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Bernal vs young Quintana

Who is better?

  • Bernal

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • Young Quintana

    Votes: 12 50.0%
  • They are equally good at this stage of their careers

    Votes: 6 25.0%

  • Total voters
    24
There have been a lot of hype after Bernal won the TdF aged 22. Obviously he's still a great prospect but is he better than young Quintana? Reminder: at the age of 23 Quintana was 2nd at the Tour'13 losing only to peak Froome. Obviously Bernal didn't have such a formidable rival. Quintana also won the Giro at the age of 24 and was close to Tour victory the following year (only beaten by Froome, again). Quintana was one of the best climbers of the previous decade and IMO was rather unfortunate not to win the Tour (he could have against 2019 field). What's your opinion? I created a poll.
 
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I rate Bernal's victory in 2019 at a age of 22 fairly equal to Quintana's second place at 23 in 2013 behind a very strong Froome.

It will be more interesting to see how Bernal develops in the coming years. Quintana didn't become much stronger after 23, and one could claim that he peaked at 25-26 and then declined. Can Bernal progress further than Quintana?
 
Quintana for me, although Bernal seem to be a more fun rider to watch.
Quintana was quite conservative most of the time, When he did light it up and for example challenged the whole sky train it was a joy to watch even though it didnt lead anywhere. Burt its hard to compare, Sky was more dominant in that era than any team is now and Bernal is arguably in one of the two strongest teams.
 
Well, 22 year old Bernal was clearly better than 22 year old Quintana. Only one season has passed since then and that season was basically destroyed by an injury, so judging Bernal by that season seems very unfair. Who knows, he might have improved quite a bit as a 23 y.o. without his back issues but we just never got to see it.

If we compare 22 y.o. Bernal with 23 y.o. Quintana though, I have to agree with the majority of this thread. Bernal won the Tour of course but he did so against pretty much no competition whatsoever.
Both Quintana and Bernal were dropped in the pyrenees before being the strongest rider in the Alps, just that the guy dropping Quintana was thermonuclear Froome, while the guy dropping Bernal was Pinot. And then when Quintana was the strongest in the Alps that means he had to best Froome (while in the process also beating the likes of Purito and Contador). By the time Bernal was the strongest guy in the Alps, the rider who beat him in the pyrenees was injured, while his other opponents were Steven Kruijswijk and Manuel Buchmann. Thomas was there as well, but it's actually possible Thomas could have pulled off the same attacks Bernal did (although I don't actually think so) it's just that Sky decided Bernal was the first to attack on the two big Alps stages.

But yeah, as I wrote, I'm still giving Bernal the benefit of the doubt. I would be lying though if I said that my gut feeling doesn't tell me that we've already seen the best of Bernal.
 
I also think Bernal is a bit better allrounder but if we are talking ITT strictly, I'm not sure I'd give him the edge there. Peak Quintana is underrated as a TT rider IMO. Nothing spectacular, but he had some good performances in his career. Climbing wise for me also Quintana > Bernal.
 

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