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

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If you speak spanish, here is his response today:


No excuses. But it looks like he knew from very early that he didn't have any legs and told the team so. I am puzzled abut what happened to Bernal today. Really puzzled.
 
Likely a multitude of factors involved. For starters, Bernal really wanted go to Giro this year, they likely should have listened. Overall the team in its current form was weaker and they left the experienced guys home. Bernal likely got injured at Critérium du Dauphiné. His form likely wasn't the best to begin with, due to corona situation. Huge expectations ... That lead to open battle with JV, and they likely paid the price.
 
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I have heard the over training theory several times. That is one possibility. But I would like to know a good example of this problem. Not because I don't believe it but because I never paid attention to it and I am not informed of who of the big names have committed this mistake in the past.

As of him wanting to go to the Giro that was 2019. I never heard that in 2020. He was always listed for the Tour de France team. Specially since he had to defend it.
 
It can be a lot things affecting his performance. They surely gonna make their due diligences in finding out.

Just by the words being spoken it sounds like they might not have believed in it much from the beginning. The build-up not going great and the last minute changes in the selection sent a message that all things probably wasnt in order around the team. Maybe they knew this was a likely outcome, but Bernal was still their best bet and he was the defending champion. With Froome and Thomas not going, they had to throw in Carapaz. To at least look competitive. The strong team for that many years suddenly didnt have the depth. They also got a terrible start with Sivakov crashing, but all the supporting riders hasnt looked the best either.

If the form is not there. Things will come to light sooner, rather than later. He went really deep on stage 13, and stage 15 there just wasnt anything left.
 
He has had the look of someone that overtrained in Columbia where Ineos couldn't monitor him enough and that showed before the Tour. He's young and will get over it. He won't get over it in this race but he will soon enough.

Pretty sure they get all his data so they can monitor him pretty well. Of course those guys are flirting with overtraining so this can happen even under supervision by good coaches.
 
As of him wanting to go to the Giro that was 2019. I never heard that in 2020.

I remember Bernal saying he is very fond of Italy and would like to do a Giro this year. At the beginning of this year, likely knowing the situation in the team, regarding leadership, is awry. Instead the team sent him to the Tour, the same with Carapaz. The team after did some dodgy move with Thomas and Froome, putting more weight on Bernal shoulders.

All in all, if you treat your riders like that, "paycheck attitude", "giving them a short notice", you can't expect they will wholeheartedly pursue the goal.
 
Pretty sure they get all his data so they can monitor him pretty well. Of course those guys are flirting with overtraining so this can happen even under supervision by good coaches.
His references to his numbers being as good as they have been, despite struggling and being dropped is telling. You can't train to race in a bubble. You can train but the 1% edge that keeps you in contact requires some real world effort with team or serious training partners. How else to explain Geraint's Dauphine showing along with Carapaz, etc.? Most of the Columbians couldn't get out of the country until the last minute.
 
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Ted Striker

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Likely a multitude of factors involved. For starters, Bernal really wanted go to Giro this year, they likely should have listened. Overall the team in its current form was weaker and they left the experienced guys home. Bernal likely got injured at Critérium du Dauphiné. His form likely wasn't the best to begin with, due to corona situation. Huge expectations ... That lead to open battle with JV, and they likely paid the price.


did he? news to me
 
We talked about Ineos vs. JV for months, regarding the season 2020. Bernal knew, what the situation in the team was, regarding hierarchy. In my opinion he would have rather avoid it completely, by going to Giro this year. As for going to Tour and sorting out the hierarchy issue. That was handled far from optimal.

Anyway, what is done is done. Better to focus on next seasons.
 
We will know better or have more evidence in the days to come. Especially if it is illness.

Before the race most commentators, coaches, riders, fans etc. Basically everyone was saying that this year was going to bring surprises because of the changes in training, the lock down, in general about the difference compared to other years. And when that happens we get surprised. We might get more surprises in this third week.

Even if people say that he is over-trained, I think that it could be true only if we combine it with the lock-down. Maybe comprising all the training in a short period of time could have been a mistake. But how are the coaches going to know in this odd year. It is the first time. Some riders cope better than others.
 
I am curious if it was:
1- Poor prep
2- Getting an illness (cold?)
3- Awful tactics due to JVs power
4- Over prep in the pre tour/covid race hault

Anyone?
Lefevere was pretty sure it was because the Colombians weren't able to train outside for a few months, and are missing 2 months of build-up. He said it's the same with Alaphilippe. The foundation was missing, like building a house on sand.
 
Lefevere was pretty sure it was because the Colombians weren't able to train outside for a few months, and are missing 2 months of build-up. He said it's the same with Alaphilippe. The foundation was missing, like building a house on sand.

The issue with that is at least some of the Colombian riders had special permission to train outside during part of the lock down. While the Spaniards, French, and Italians were more or less locked in their homes for 2 months.
 
I donot think it was over training. For a millionaire and the most expensive team budget, pls dont tell me that a follow up of the training data cannot be done by the some of the top coaches in the world. Training plans and followups would have been scheduled easily once the TDF dates were fixed.
Most likely the back is a more serious issue which was aggravated due to bike style/ position during racing/training. But this being Ineos, is not likely to comeout
 
We will know better or have more evidence in the days to come. Especially if it is illness.

Before the race most commentators, coaches, riders, fans etc. Basically everyone was saying that this year was going to bring surprises because of the changes in training, the lock down, in general about the difference compared to other years. And when that happens we get surprised. We might get more surprises in this third week.

Even if people say that he is over-trained, I think that it could be true only if we combine it with the lock-down. Maybe comprising all the training in a short period of time could have been a mistake. But how are the coaches going to know in this odd year. It is the first time. Some riders cope better than others.

^^This.

Although I really do think the TJV just rode him off their wheels, especially on Stage 13.
 
Would overtraining be an explanation for the weird inconsistency in his shape though? He looked horrible on the Peyresourde, suddenly was a lot better a day later, then looked horrible on the Pas de Peyrol again, before cracking to an extent that we haven't seen by a Tour favorite since what, Landis? Idk, but wouldn't overtraining just lead to a bad shape in general? To me that sounds more health related, but then I'm really no expert
 
Would overtraining be an explanation for the weird inconsistency in his shape though? He looked horrible on the Peyresourde, suddenly was a lot better a day later, then looked horrible on the Pas de Peyrol again, before cracking to an extent that we haven't seen by a Tour favorite since what, Landis? Idk, but wouldn't overtraining just lead to a bad shape in general? To me that sounds more health related, but then I'm really no expert
Haven't read up on it, but I could imagine it primarily affects recovery, so in that case it would sort of fit with going downhill since Occitanie

He's also the only one who did 3 stage races between end of lockdown and TdF IIRC.
 
Even if he wanted Giro he would have been pulled off at the last minute like Carapaz was after seeing the shape of Froome and Thomas. Give it up. This was the only scenario.

Exactly. All in all not the best team management by Ineos, this year. Last minute changes, riders being told what to do. And no, this wasn't the only possible scenario. Could have been handled much more gracefully.
 
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