If he could manage it with time gaps, I don't see why not.
Incidentally, Bernal's biggest career time loss in a ITT; 1.53 behind his teammate Ganna, in the final stage of this year's Giro, when his only job was to stay upright and not cough up 2 minutes to Caruso.
i think you may be missing my point.
bernal never really has to be good at TT (or one of the best) precisely because there are so few kms of TT. what if there had been a second week TT at the Giro in which he lost 2 minutes... then what he did in the last TT would have mattered. but he doesn't even have to improve at TT because it is hardly tested. The "race of truth" is no longer being used as a barometer of all-around strength in GTs.
and, believe you me, let's say that the KMs of ITT were as outbalanced in the other direction -- let's say 300 KMs of TT and just two mountain stages. Now Stephan Kung takes 14 minutes out of bernal in those TTs and then finishes 32nd on one mountain stage six minutes behind bernal (who wins!) and then 29th the other mountain stage, losing a full 7 and a half minutes to bernal (who wins again). Kung would then be ahead of bernal in GC...
and you would be okay with that...?
somehow i doubt that.
and i doubt any cycling fan would like it.
i wouldn't.
that is a little what is happening, but the other way round.
that is why i am happy when a rider like pog can dominate a race, excelling in both areas. I don't have any doubts that the best all-around rider is winning. however, when the route so favors one type of rider, i question whether the best all-around rider is actually winning -- at that seems a shame.