• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Page 75 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
He's the strongest individually and he has the strongest team. He only needs a little more time on Vlasov, but that can happen on the Zoncolan already. Maybe he should think about winning that stage instead of giving it to the breakaway, if only for the bonus seconds.
I expect Vlasov to be very strong on the Zoncolan, so it'll be very difficult for Bernal to gain more time on him in my opinion.

Anyway, Bernal has been fantastic so far. The strongest and most exciting rider in the Giro by some margin. Hopefully he has no unexpected setbacks going forward so we can enjoy a fully functioning Bernal till the end of the Giro and after the Giro.
 
Taking into consideration his latest performances can he get in the group of Pogacar and Roglic? Is he that good?

Yeah, he is. A lot depends on the team around him, but he can surely climb as well as those two; might give away some time in an ITT but not much. But I think if his back is healthy, he's on their level. We saw in 2019 that he was only getting better deep into the third week of a GT on the toughest/highest stages.

As a side note, if Bernal goes on to win the Giro, I think we can say that Ineos might have sent a stronger team to Italy than they will to the Tour. Having Ganna and Moscon put down the hammer is a huge advantage.
 
As a side note, if Bernal goes on to win the Giro, I think we can say that Ineos might have sent a stronger team to Italy than they will to the Tour. Having Ganna and Moscon put down the hammer is a huge advantage.
Agree with you re: Bernal. On the side note, just because its a fun one to argue: outside of Bernal, Moscon, Ganna and Castroviejo are the only ones who could make the Tour team. And it wouldn't be an easy call, Van Baarle was better than Moscon the last two years and Rohan Dennis gives you 98% of Ganna in the flat and quite a bit more uphill. But I"ll easily take Rowe over Puccio, Kwiato over Narvaez, Porte over Martinez, and Carapaz over Sivakov. Also, probably, Geoghan Hart over Castroviejo, particularly in the penultimate guy on the mountain train role.

Honestly I'd probably take Ganna over Rowe given that Thomas doesn't need a road captain. But I would leave Geoghan Hart or Yates instead of Castroviejo in the mountain train as I already have Dennis for the flatter stuff. And maybe Moscon ends up doing a better Giro than Kwiato and Van Baarle do at the Tour but he is a bit more error prone as well.

So yeah, basically the only guy I'd have surely taken from this team to the Tour team is Ganna. I'm guessing there were some extra considerations there, such as the converted upon possibility of Ganna taking pink. But not because this Ineos team is weak: it might be the strongest team here even after losing their second strongest all-rounder. But because that Ineos tour team, at least on paper, is monstrous.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: will-10 and limak_
Agree with you re: Bernal. On the side note, just because its a fun one to argue: outside of Bernal, Moscon, Ganna and Castroviejo are the only ones who could make the Tour team. And it wouldn't be an easy call, Van Baarle was better than Moscon the last two years and Rohan Dennis gives you 98% of Ganna in the flat and quite a bit more uphill. But I"ll easily take Rowe over Puccio, Kwiato over Narvaez, Porte over Martinez, and Carapaz over Sivakov. Also, probably, Geoghan Hart over Castroviejo, particularly in the penultimate guy on the mountain train role.

Honestly I'd probably take Ganna over Rowe given that Thomas doesn't need a road captain. But I would leave Geoghan Hart or Yates instead of Castroviejo in the mountain train as I already have Dennis for the flatter stuff. And maybe Moscon ends up doing a better Giro than Kwiato and Van Baarle do at the Tour but he is a bit more error prone as well.

So yeah, basically the only guy I'd have surely taken from this team to the Tour team is Ganna. I'm guessing there were some extra considerations there, such as the converted upon possibility of Ganna taking pink. But not because this Ineos team is weak: it might be the strongest team here even after losing their second strongest all-rounder. But because that Ineos tour team, at least on paper, is monstrous.
I agree with most of your picks, but personally I would choose Castroviejo over TGH as a pure domestique. He's really proven to be excellent at that the last couple of years. TGH won the Giro but I wouldn't say he's proven himself as a top domestique yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Could be it is just coincidence but what i am noticing lately is Ineos being Ineos and being good at it on races where Slovenians are not participating. Having everything under control and in the bag. But when they face each other Ineos is far from such stellar form.

Where would Slovenians be on this race? Hard to say but likely there would be a bit more punch on that stage that Gino won. Gravel i don't know but AFAIK both don't have much issues with it. Climbing is the most interesting part for me, on how Bernal in this stellar form can perform. For TT the Slovenians would likely have an edge.

Hence the question i guess is could Bernal drop Slovenians in mountains and gain enough time to be safe for TT.

Here i feel Bernal still might have a hard time in doing that. But lets see his climbing performance on this years Giro addition first.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Taking into consideration his latest performances can he get in the group of Pogacar and Roglic? Is he that good?

O don’t know. Last years Tour d Occitane, Bernal looked thermonuclear according to youtube. Until Tour de l’Ain came a couple of days later and Roglic showed him what thermonuclear is all about… and Bernal wasn’t bad there - he was comfortably second distancing everybody else to the finish line but it was just not enough. I expect similar revelation once they race together again.
 
Agree with you re: Bernal. On the side note, just because its a fun one to argue: outside of Bernal, Moscon, Ganna and Castroviejo are the only ones who could make the Tour team. And it wouldn't be an easy call, Van Baarle was better than Moscon the last two years and Rohan Dennis gives you 98% of Ganna in the flat and quite a bit more uphill. But I"ll easily take Rowe over Puccio, Kwiato over Narvaez, Porte over Martinez, and Carapaz over Sivakov. Also, probably, Geoghan Hart over Castroviejo, particularly in the penultimate guy on the mountain train role.

Honestly I'd probably take Ganna over Rowe given that Thomas doesn't need a road captain. But I would leave Geoghan Hart or Yates instead of Castroviejo in the mountain train as I already have Dennis for the flatter stuff. And maybe Moscon ends up doing a better Giro than Kwiato and Van Baarle do at the Tour but he is a bit more error prone as well.

So yeah, basically the only guy I'd have surely taken from this team to the Tour team is Ganna. I'm guessing there were some extra considerations there, such as the converted upon possibility of Ganna taking pink. But not because this Ineos team is weak: it might be the strongest team here even after losing their second strongest all-rounder. But because that Ineos tour team, at least on paper, is monstrous.
Good points. Maybe bc the Giro is always going to be weaker than the Tour, but Ganna, Moscon, castroviejo and Puccio are looking rock steady and better than ever. Sivakov would have been a great mtn dom bc he's not having the best season, so no GC aspirations.
 
  • Like
Reactions: carton
O don’t know. Last years Tour d Occitane, Bernal looked thermonuclear according to youtube. Until Tour de l’Ain came a couple of days later and Roglic showed him what thermonuclear is all about… and Bernal wasn’t bad there - he was comfortably second distancing everybody else to the finish line but it was just not enough. I expect similar revelation once they race together again.

And a few days later Bernal had to give up in the Dauphiné...
 
Yeah, he is. A lot depends on the team around him, but he can surely climb as well as those two; might give away some time in an ITT but not much. But I think if his back is healthy, he's on their level. We saw in 2019 that he was only getting better deep into the third week of a GT on the toughest/highest stages.

As a side note, if Bernal goes on to win the Giro, I think we can say that Ineos might have sent a stronger team to Italy than they will to the Tour. Having Ganna and Moscon put down the hammer is a huge advantage.
Rohan as a super domestique is probably better than either of them and Tao in the mountains. Carapaz and Thomas I assume will be co leaders. You could put me on that team and it wouldn't be weak:)
 
As a side note, if Bernal goes on to win the Giro, I think we can say that Ineos might have sent a stronger team to Italy than they will to the Tour. Having Ganna and Moscon put down the hammer is a huge advantage.

I think their best rider is here, but far from their best team. The TdF longlist is a far stronger team than this one:
 
  • Like
Reactions: SHAD0W93
O don’t know. Last years Tour d Occitane, Bernal looked thermonuclear according to youtube. Until Tour de l’Ain came a couple of days later and Roglic showed him what thermonuclear is all about… and Bernal wasn’t bad there - he was comfortably second distancing everybody else to the finish line but it was just not enough. I expect similar revelation once they race together again.
I don't really agree with this. To me, from the moment that Bernal started racing in Europe he went from good to worse. We could see the decline. To the point that people actually started talking about fatigue, overtraining, etc. We understand that there are other factors that could have contributed to this, but everything is conjecture at this moment. But the linear decline was clear to my eyes. So not everything was like you said that Roglic showed him what thermonuclear was. If you want to see thermonuclear you have to watch Pogacar in Stage 20. So it is as simple as you put it.
 
I think their best rider is here, but far from their best team. The TdF longlist is a far stronger team than this one:
Throw Bernal, Moscow and Ganna into the mix and that gives them options for next years TDF tilt that no team has ever had anything close to. At the end of the day though, a train won't shift Pog, Bernal has to beat him 1 on 1 uphill by a decent chunk of time.
 
Bernal is showing me dimensions of his riding in this Giro I didn't know he had. Strong outside of high altitude - tick. Strongest of GC on dirt roads - tick. Hope his back hangs in there. So far it looks like he and Ineos nailed his rehab.
He's always looked confident in a pack and under stress; like Quintana. Seems like they've raced challenging conditions for a long time.
I haven't had any access to prolonged videos of his current racing. Regarding your point on his rehab; has his position been adjusted? I always thought he was hyper extended which does put stress on the lower back.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Sandisfan

TRENDING THREADS