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

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simon yates is a complete and utter joke as a GT candidate. this is a virenque, a chiappucci who would lose 6-8 minutes if there were any vaguely normal amount of TT. he should not be in anyway an "overall" contender. he could go for stages and the climbers jersey. it really goes to show you what has happened to the overall competition that someone who literally has one skill and that is it is touted consistently as an overall contender. this is so disappointing.

Yes, a GT winner is a utter joke as a GT candidate, that makes lots of sense.
 
simon yates is a complete and utter joke as a GT candidate. this is a virenque, a chiappucci who would lose 6-8 minutes if there were any vaguely normal amount of TT. he should not be in anyway an "overall" contender. he could go for stages and the climbers jersey. it really goes to show you what has happened to the overall competition that someone who literally has one skill and that is it is touted consistently as an overall contender. this is so disappointing.
This should get some bites
 
simon yates is a complete and utter joke as a GT candidate. this is a virenque, a chiappucci who would lose 6-8 minutes if there were any vaguely normal amount of TT. he should not be in anyway an "overall" contender. he could go for stages and the climbers jersey. it really goes to show you what has happened to the overall competition that someone who literally has one skill and that is it is touted consistently as an overall contender. this is so disappointing.

Still has won more GTs than guys like Pinot, Bardet or Purito.
 
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I don't think this year's Giro hopefuls were more complacent than other years to be honest. Would be some 4D Chess to lie about a weakness like that because you mostly want to avoid attacks and I think it's more likely that suggesting weakness will invite attacks rather than complacency.

The others would have had expected Bernal to crack in the third week because of his back and that always seemed like a gamble. What you're suggesting works better when guys like Alaphilippe and Voeckler get the jersey and pretend they are hurting so that they won't be taken seriously in the 3rd week. Then it can invite complacency but when you are going to be taken seriously no matter what, like Bernal, then it's imo just blood in the water.

Possibly being open about it did relief him of some pressure and stress though. (I edited this in just as Red Rick replied, honestly!)
 
I don't think this year's Giro hopefuls were more complacent than other years to be honest. Would be some 4D Chess to lie about a weakness like that because you mostly want to avoid attacks and I think it's more likely that suggesting weakness will invite attacks rather than complacency.

The others would have had expected Bernal to crack in the third week because of his back and that always seemed like a gamble. What you're suggesting works better when guys like Alaphilippe and Voeckler get the jersey and pretend they are hurting so that they won't be taken seriously in the 3rd week.
It's just to get the pressure at the start a bit off, other than that it affects the race not very much at all. You don't go and assume an Ineos team leader will randomly crack in the third week lol
 
simon yates is a complete and utter joke as a GT candidate. this is a virenque, a chiappucci who would lose 6-8 minutes if there were any vaguely normal amount of TT. he should not be in anyway an "overall" contender. he could go for stages and the climbers jersey. it really goes to show you what has happened to the overall competition that someone who literally has one skill and that is it is touted consistently as an overall contender. this is so disappointing.
Ok, I’ll bite. He’s done more than OK as a GC rider. I think what you’re talking about is a classic, all around rider who can stomp TTS and MTFs, but there’s been a number of GTs won by single skill climbers with average TTS, not to mention lots of podium spots. For someone like Roglic, second place is almost a fail, but for Yates it’s a win, and to win a GT is an impressive outperform.
If Caruso hadn’t morphed into a shock contender, we’d be celebrating Yates’ 2nd as a victory.
 
Ok, I’ll bite. He’s done more than OK as a GC rider. I think what you’re talking about is a classic, all around rider who can stomp TTS and MTFs, but there’s been a number of GTs won by single skill climbers with average TTS, not to mention lots of podium spots. For someone like Roglic, second place is almost a fail, but for Yates it’s a win, and to win a GT is an impressive outperform.
If Caruso hadn’t morphed into a shock contender, we’d be celebrating Yates’ 2nd as a victory.
When Yates won the Vuelta his ITT was better than that one of Bernal both last week and in the Tour Bernal won.
 
I agree Contador 2015 was better than Bernal 2019 in the final week. But Landa was stronger than Contador in the mountains even without Finestre stage.
That's not quite my recollection. Contador had taken back three minutes on Aru and four on Landa with his Valdobbiadene exhibition. He went way too hard on Aprica (his toughest stage ever according to a recent video) and after that, he clearly faded, bar for the tactically beautiful attack over the top of Monte Ologno with Hesjedal.

Honestly, I'd say they were both similar performances, down to the final margins. Bernal was a lot more solid overall, and in the third week, only losing time to Caruso on that last stage, and gaining time on Yates over the third week. Both of them really made their mark on the race with attacks over the top of climbs, Bernal on Montalcino and over the Giau, Contador over Monte Olongno and the Mortirolo -although even on that stage he lost time to Landa.

You can say the difference was that while Bernal could count on a strong team to shepherd him on the final week, Contador could count on the huge margin he took in the ITT and on that attack to Verbania. But over that final week, he looked a lot more up and down than Bernal. While Contador lost a roundabout 30 seconds on the hills to an inconsistent Aru on a couple of minutes on Landa, Bernal lost 30 seconds on the (down)hills to Caruso and ended up gaining time on that third week against an inconsistent Yates. Yeah, Dani Martinez had a lot to do with it, but while Bernal actually outclimbed Caruso on the last two MTFs to Alpe di Mera and Alpe Motta, Contador shipped more than a minute to Aru on both Cervinia and Sestriere.

And about the teams, Contador's Tinkoff squad faltered hard, but that was a team that featured Roman Kreuziger, Ivan Basso and Michael Rogers for high mountain support, which was then quite the lineup. I don't think they were that much less well-regarded as grimpeurs than Martinez, Castroviejo and Narvaez. Bernal was supported by a strong team but had no issues pushing the pace himself when he needed to, and played a tactically perfect stage to Montalcino, driving the pace early himself and allowing EF to push the pace before bridging up to Buchmann and riding hard to the line. Contador, perhaps because of the team itself (though both Tinkoff and Astana were very well-funded teams back then) and perhaps because of his early experiences with Bruyneel and HWMNBN, never quite leaned on his team quite the same way as Bernal is learning to.

On the flip-side, perhaps due to his back issues or due to some other physiological limitations, Bernal, despite an eerily similar build, has not taken to time-trialing as well as Contador. Without that, it's hard to imagine Egan coming close to Alberto's palmares, especially given the rise of Tadej Pogacar. However, in other ways, like the tactical nous, the positioning savvy, and the aggressive way they race, they are, to my eyes at least, remarkably similar. And this year's Giro does remind me quite a lot of 2015 bar for a more composed (and well supported) and ultimately stronger Bernal that final week.
 
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Bernal back in Rome:

Bernal with the Pope: "I gave him a bike and a pink jersey"
The winner of the Giro was received, together with his girlfriend, by Papa Francesco.
"He asked me how many coffees I take"



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