Re: Re:
Alexandre B. said:
Zinoviev Letter said:
Alexandre B. said:
Zinoviev Letter said:
There can’t be many guys with two Tour podiums who have as threadbare a palmares. He’s the worst sort of one race a year rider.
The sort of one race a year rider that podium two of the most contested hilly one-day races in the calendar.
Andy Schleck won LBL.
If you are going to argue that Bardet is seriously targeting a range of races, then it follows that he’s really not very good because he never wins anything. An actual infant who was still using stabilizers on his bike up until six months ago like Bernal already has a more complete palmares outside of the Tour.
First of all, I don't care about Bernal.
He's competitive all summer and in the Ardennes.
He was average in Tirreno (but almost everyone was), and sick in Basque Country.
Raced well in one-day races.
Is that really horrible?
He suffers the AG2R syndrome of being there but not winning big.
Bernal was just an illustrative example. Look at the palmares of the riders around Bardet at the sharp end of the Tour. Thomas, Dumoulin, Froome, Roglic, Quintana, Landa, Martin, Fuglsang, Valverde, Zakarin, Jungels, all have better non TdeF palmares than Bardet by margins ranging from substantial to enormous. The only exception before you get right down to the likes of Guillaume Martin or Latour is Kruijswijk. The same is true of GC men who are well down the order or not at the Tour, like Nibali, Uran, Simon Yates, Mollema, Lopez, even Adam Yates. All win more races.
So yes, I do think his palmares border on the horrible for a rider who is (most years) so good at the Tour. It’s really quite a perverse accomplishment to twice podium the Tour de France without ever winning a stage race other than the 2013 Tour de l’Ain. His only WT win of any kind outside the Tour is a single stage of the Dauphine, a Tour prep race.
And I don’t think “AG2R disease” explains it. I’ve always liked Bardet’s style of racing at the Tour, but I really can’t admire his Schleck / JVDB approach to the season as a whole.