Teams & Riders The official Egan Bernal is the new Egan Bernal thread

[Salvarani]

Laid out arguments discarded by gut feeling and "personal truth" - sign of the times

I dont see it that way and I dont think what was said there was any different than what you are telling me.

We will just have to see, a lot of people been wrong before. People will find their excuses when riders bonk that didnt suit their narrative.

 

[tobydawq]

I dont see it that way and I dont think what was said there was any different than what you are telling me.

We will just have to see, a lot of people been wrong before. People will find their excuses when riders bonk that didnt suit their narrative.

But do you feel that you end up being right if Pogi or Vingegaard end up winning the Tour? Or will you concede that when Bernal was knocked out of the ballpark by Tao, Remco, Yates and Hindley in the battle for fourth, that ok, indeed, none of them ended up beating the top guys but Bernal certainly was further away?

Or will the conclusion be that all of their chances were zero, so technically Bernal's wasn't smaller than the others'? And neither was Jasper Philipsen's.

 

[Salvarani]

But do you feel that you end up being right if Pogi or Vingegaard end up winning the Tour? Or will you concede that when Bernal was knocked out of the ballpark by Tao, Remco, Yates and Hindley in the battle for fourth, that ok, indeed, none of them ended up beating the top guys but Bernal certainly was further away?

Or will the conclusion be that all of their chances were zero, so technically Bernal's wasn't smaller than the others'? And neither was Jasper Philipsen's.

You are on to something.

But as I said in this moment of time, his chances are as good as anyone else besides the top 3. Thats just my opinion.

Key here is, moment of time.

Things change. Things happens.

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

I’m as excited as anyone to see Bernal on the upswing, but I’d rate his chances well below Remco, the Yates’, TGH, and Jai Hindley, all of whom (except Adam) have won a GT in their own right. I’d love to be wrong, but I agree there isn’t (yet) and indication he is back to his best or able to ever get there or that that would put him up there with the top 3.

Actually El Camino is exactly the indication that he might be coming back to his best. So the claim that there's no indication is weird.

Now will he be able to confirm the progress he showed compared to last year? Time will tell. But for sure the start of the season was better than 23. Yes, beating the weaker Cepeda-cousin by 3" is not the best imaginable performance ever, but considering where he comes from... Best behind the top 3? If he confirms the progress in the coming races, why not. Although I suspect he won't ride the Tour anyway. Again, there is an indication he's coming back, last year 8th and 12th Romandie and Dauphiné, if he confirms the improvement should do much better there. Anyway, we'll see how he does in bigger races soon.

 

[Cookster15]

Didn't see the stage but the result suggests another good ride from Egan today despite some suggestions he and Luke Plapp made a tactical error not responding to the winning move. At least he is good enough to even be in that position.

Those who remain critical or underwhelmed should always keep in mind what he has come back from. IMO it is frankly inspirational. I hope he continues to surprise us and himself. Today I note he finished with the Remco/Roglic group and ahead of riders like Vlasov and Almeida. It is only a one week race but a good test. He is a professional bike racer again.

 

[Unchained]

Didn't see the stage but the result suggests another good ride from Egan today despite some suggestions he and Luke Plapp made a tactical error not responding to the winning move. At least he is good enough to even be in that position.

Those who remain critical or underwhelmed should always keep in mind what he has come back from. IMO it is frankly inspirational. I hope he continues to surprise us and himself. Today I note he finished with the Remco/Roglic group and ahead of riders like Vlasov and Almeida. It is only a one week race but a good test. He is a professional bike racer again.

If you listen to what lots of the big players said, sky didn't fall, all is not lost, Bernal may have his eyes on other bigger things. Remco also owned it,went on about it in an English interview, he didn't react, and because he didn't jump, waited for others to contribute, gap got unmanageable. All people that made mistakes, said so and know what they are. Egan Bernal would not be so foolish as to get down on himself, no logical reason to do so

 

[Unchained]

He didn't fly today, but he also didn't die today, stayed in control, good ride.

 

[Escarabajo]

Maybe breakaway tomorrow with Buitrago.

 

[Escarabajo]

I liked a lot his effort and performance in the last stage. He has had a lot of heart in the last 2 races with such a miserable conditions. Finally we are seeing a big jump on his performance IMHO.

 

[sam6]

His performance is encouraging but it's not as big a step up from last year as you might think

Last year he came 4th on the queen stage of the Vuelta a San Juan (ahead of Evenepoel), 8th in the Tour de Romandie, 8th in the Tour of Hungary, and 12th in the Dauphine. 7th in Paris-Nice is slightly better but it's not a huge improvement on that and he didn't really influence the race

 

[jmdirt]

Hopefully he is still getting better!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I liked a lot his effort and performance in the last stage. He has had a lot of heart in the last 2 races with such a miserable conditions. Finally we are seeing a big jump on his performance IMHO.

Didn't he perform one of his most epic rides in miserable weather conditions? It's not like he used to be bad in cold/rain, is it? There was plenty of that in the '21 Giro for instance.

Not sure this is a big jump for him, seems to fall in line with what we saw at Gran Camino.

 

[Sciatic]

Didn't he perform one of his most epic rides in miserable weather conditions? It's not like he used to be bad in cold/rain, is it? There was plenty of that in the '21 Giro for instance.

Not sure this is a big jump for him, seems to fall in line with what we saw at Gran Camino.

He helped clinch his Tour win on that horrible weather stage where they stopped riders part way through the stage. One of the most confusing stages to try to understand what was happening.

 

[tobydawq]

He helped clinch his Tour win on that horrible weather stage where they stopped riders part way through the stage. One of the most confusing stages to try to understand what was happening.

The riders didn't ride in the rain on that stage.

But yes, his Cortina d'Ampezzo win certainly speaks of good handling of bad weather.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Bernal is in his prime age. Its also >2 years since the accident. We don't know what physiological damage he has sustained due to his accident. If he does not achieve his top performances this year, it is not likely to happen in the future. Andy Schleck did not. His future is secure till 2026 though.

 

[Sciatic]

The riders didn't ride in the rain on that stage.

But yes, his Cortina d'Ampezzo win certainly speaks of good handling of bad weather.

Thanks, memory dims sometimes!

 

[Netserk]

He was held up by Buitrago's crash, so he was never near the front group during the last stage of Paris-Nice.

C. Rod to the left of the road, Geniets sitting on the ground, Bernal walking in the middle, and Buitrago down on the right side of the road.

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

Considering the crash i think his performance in the last stage was fine. The only disappointing performance was the one in the MTF. Still a solid start of the season. I would like to see him at the Giro, but unfortunately it doesn't seem in the cards

 

[Escarabajo]

He was held up by Buitrago's crash, so he was never near the front group during the last stage of Paris-Nice.

C. Rod to the left of the road, Geniets sitting on the ground, Bernal walking in the middle, and Buitrago down on the right side of the road.

I thought everyone knew that. I guess commentators in NBC and Eurosport both missed it.
At that moment in time the peloton was being pulled hard by Trek. It was a bad moment to crash. He was in persecution mode the whole race along with other 2 riders from UAE. The difference was that the UAE riders were distanced in the descent, so Bernal could catch them. Towards the end Laurens De Plus was called back to help Bernal.

 

[Netserk]

I doubt that he will ever get back to the level he had in 2021, but I wouldn't rule it out and I think that with the progress we've seen that we can expect him to reach a level where can podium the big one-week stage races and maybe win a GT stage again.

Not done yet, but it looks like it's coming sooner than I expected!

 

[jmdirt]

Its great to see EB riding this well again!

 

[DNP-Old]

The people's champ. He is going to win a race this year, incredible.

 

[KZD]

Bernal's best day of racing since his accident.

Happy to see him at this level, while the Vuelta win seems still a distant possibility, the podium might well be within his grasp.

 

[Cookster15]

Great ride today. Glad he isn't aiming for the Giro, more time will likely help him even more. We should also remember he is still only 27.

 

[Lequack]